War's  Folly  and  Futility 


FOLLY  #  FUTILITY 


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WAR'S 


FOLLY  *  FUTILITY 


Printed  hy 

NEW  ULM  PUBLISHING  CO. 

New  Him.  Minn. 

1913 


FOREWORD 

This  pamphlet  has  been  printed  and  published  at  the  expense  of  my 
friend  and  comrade,  A.  G.  Wagner,  of  Henning,  Minnesota.  For  some 
years  I  have  put  upon  paper  thoughts  excited  by  current  events  and 
writings  relating  thereto  that  have  appeared  in  books,  magazines  and 
newspapers  that  I  have  read.  During  recent  years  I  have  entertained  a 
wish  and  hope  that  sometime,  by  some  accident,  I  should  obtain  means 
that  would  permit  me  to  print  and  publish  what  I  had  written  in  book 
form.  In  the  event  that  I  am  sometime  able  to  thus  please  and  gratify 
vanity,  the  subject  matter  of  this  pamphlet  will  be  made  a  chapter  in  the 
book.  Moved  by  desire  for  such  sympathy,  approval  and  criticism  as 
might  be  found  among  friends  I  have,  from  time  to  time,  placed  in  their 
hands  some  of  my  manuscripts.  Of  the  five  friends  to  whom  I  thus  gave 
the  original  draft  of  what  now  is  herein  presented  under  title  of  "The 
Folly  and  Futility  of  War,"  Wagner  was  one.  He  suggested  that  it  be 
printed  and  published  immediately,  and  separately,  generously  (perhaps 
foolishly)  offering  to  bear  the  expense — hence  the  offense. 

I  have  not  the  skill  and  training  which  those  who  are  capable  acquire 
through  time  devoted  to  literary  work,  and  because  of  this  lack  I  have 
probably  failed  to  present  what  I  have  written  as  happily  and  convincingly 
as  another  might.  However,  to  avoid  error  of  statement  and  inference  I 
have  been  as  careful  and  painstaking  as  incapacity  and  prejudice  would 
permit  and  it  is  my  hope  that  my  defects  have  not  operated  to  prevent  my 
presenting  fact  and  inference  with  reasonable  fairness  and  accuracy. 
Faults  in  composition,  or  occasional  error  of  statement  and  inference  will 
not  affect  validity  of  the  general  scope  of  reasoning  in  any  material 
connection,  nor  deter  the  intelligent  and  fair-minded  from  acceptance  of 
that  which  is  proven. 

It  is  in  the  nature  of  human  nature  to  accept  as  true  the  agreeable 
and  usual;  and  to  reject  as  error  the  disagreeable  and  unusual.  No  one  is 
able  to  get  rid  of  erroneous  belief,  illusion,  and  prejudice  and  assume  a 
mental  attitude  free  from  their  influence  to  an  extent  which  will  permit 
acceptance  of  truth  from  every  source  and  in  any  form  in  which  it  may 
appear;  and  the  average  of  mankind  only  accept  that  which  coincides  with 
predispositions  born  of  beliefs  and  prejudices  that  are  agreeable  but  have 
little  or  no  foundation  in  fact.  The  operation  of  the  inflexible  forces  of 
nature  has  moved,  and  will,  in  future,  move  people  to  turn  from  illusion 
and  accept  reality  as  a  guide,  and  effect  modifications  of  belief  in  the 
direction  of  nearer  approach  of  truth,  but  change  has  ever  been  slow  and 
laborious  in  effectuation,  and  must  so  continue. 

The  historic  record  of  "superior"  and  "progressive"  peoples,  written 
by  themselves,  show  without  material  variation  or  exception  that  the 
"superior"  and  "progressive"  peoples  have  been  the  original  aggressors 
in  all  conflicts  with  "inferior"  peoples  and  "barbarous  savages."  The 
advantages  possessed  by  "superior"  peoples  and  the  extreme  improbability, 
not  to  say  impossibility,  of  their  being  invaded,  conquered,  crowded  out 
and  supplanted  by  "inferior"  peoples  are  too  obvious  to  require  mention. 
Yet  people  who  boast  most  of  their  intelligence  and  are  most  insistent  in 
claiming  superiority  over  all  others  devote  their  best  talent  and  greatest 
energy  to  the  up-keep  of  big  military  establishments  as  a  provisional 
defense  against  an  anticipated  and  feared  invasion  by  some  "inferior" 


but  warlike  people.  If  an  individual  complains  of  having  "bad  neighbors" 
almost  invariably  the  cause  will  be  found  with  the  complainant.  If 
nations  have  "natural  enemies"  they  are,  without  exception,  of  their  own 
making;  and  this  is  especially  true  in  its  application  to  the  United  States. 

Because  it  was  agreeable  to  the  beliefs  which  move  people  to  support 
and  defend  existing  political  governments  the  doctrine  set  forth  by  Dr. 
Malthus  in  his  book  entitled  "The  Principle  of  Population,"  published  a 
century  ago,  has  been  generally  accepted  as  being  true.  Malthus  asserted 
that  the  cause  of  Poverty,  with  incident  misery,  was  to  be  found  in  the 
fact,  that  human  fecundity  outran  earth's  productivity;  that  population 
increased  in  geometrical  ratio,  while  the  productivity  of  earth  went  forward 
in  arithmetical  ratio.  If  the  proposition  were  true,  which  it  is  not,  its 
practical  demonstration  must  be  deferred  until  such  time  as  every  habitable 
portion  of  the  earth  became  fully  occupied — something  which  has  never 
yet  taken  place  in  any  extended  area,  however  densely  it  may  have  been 
populated.  Nowhere  on  earth  have  people  ever  been  reduced  to  want  and 
suffering  because  of  earth's  failure  to  produce  enough.  If  at  times,  and 
in  localities,  enough  was  not  produced,  or  was  unvailable,  it  has  been 
due  to  restraints  upon  liberty,  and  to  defective  mechanism  connected  with 
that  part  of  production  which  economists  have  chosen  to  call  Distribution. 
Limitations  imposed  by  political  governments  have  kept  the  people  from 
access  to  the  earth,  and  prevented  them  from  completing  production 
through  proper  and  equitable  distribution.  The  cause  of  Poverty  and 
Misery,  everywhere  in  the  world  resides  in  and  proceeds  from  "Taxation!" 
When  note  is  taken  of  the  fact  that  even  in  this  "most  favored"  Nation 
one  half  the  earnings  of  the  people  are  forcibly  taken  from  them,  directly 
or  indirectly,  by  the  taxing  power  of  various  and  numerous  political 
governments,  the  Cause  of  Poverty  becomes  too  obvious  to  be  disputed. 
Much  the  greater  part  of  the  enormous  sums  wrested  from  people  through 
taxation  is  spent  for  war  purposes;  and  the  spirit  of  aggression  which 
everywhere  moves  people  to  seek  and  embrace  opportunity  to  prey  upon 
each  other  is  inculcated  by  militant  activities.  Compulsory  taxation  in 
its  essence  is  a  warlike  aggression.  It  is  impossible  that  the  burden  of 
compulsory  exactions  should  be  equitably  distributed;  and  that  which  is 
inequitable  is  anti-social — warlike  in  character.  When  people  become  wise 
enough  to  refuse  to  engage  in  war  they  will  not  tolerate  the  spoliation  of 
compulsory  taxation. 

—A.  W.  WRIGHT 

Pontiac,  Michigan,  August,  1913. 


WAR'S 
FOLLY  and  FUTILITY 


For  thousands  of  years  the  wise  men  of  the  world  have 
ignored  Agriculture,  engaged  but  little  in  any  industrial  activ- 
ity, and  devoted  thought  and  energy  to  Conquest  and  the  build- 
ing of  Empires.  The  hope  of  gaining  military  leadership  with 
its  fame ;  the  desire  for  dominion,  with  its  pomp  and  pageantry, 
led  men  of  greatest  capacity,  and  best  intellectual  equipment  to 
devote  themselves  to  purposes  and  ends  which  degraded,  and 
impoverished  mankind  instead  of  enlightening  and  enriching 
them. 

Agriculture  is  the  most  fundamental  of  industries.  It  was 
the  first  to  be  learned  and  is  the  last  in  being  developed.  For 
ages  the  soil  was  prepared  for  seed  with  wooden  plows  drawn 
by  oxen,  often  by  the  puny  strength  of  human  hands.  There 
were  no  harrows,  the  work  being  miserably  done  with  brush  or 
sticks  tied  together  with  withes,  or  thongs  cut  from  untanned 
skins.  The  harvest  was  laboriously  accomplished  with  the  aid 
of  sickle  by  hand  .  Each  bushel  of  grain  represented  hours  and 
hours  of  fatiguing  hand  work.  Famines  were  frequent,  separ- 
ated, in  occurrence,  by  but  few  years;  often  prevailing  unin- 
terruptedly through  several  succeeding  years.  Millions  upon 
millions  of  people  perished  miserably  for  lack  of  food.  At  the 
same  time  the  governments  under  which  these  people  lived  were 
most  elaborate,  having  vast  military  establishments  consisting 
of  great  armies  and  navies.  The  best  strength  of  the  nation; 
the  wisdom  of  its  best  men  were  employed  in  devastating  all  other 
countries,  destroying  all  other  peoples  for  the  upbuilding  and 
glory  of  Empire !  The  tiller  of  the  soil  was  "brother  to  the  ox," 
a  mere  thing,  unworthy  of  even  momentary  thought  or  con- 
sideration. 

Out  of  war  and  conquest  has  grown  the  perversion  of 
moral  vision  that  refuses  to  see  wrong  in  obtainment  of  some- 
thing for  nothing.  It  is  for  an  invading  host  to  seize  upon  the 
resources  of  the  invaded,  thus  sustain  itself;  and  in  the  event 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

of  conquering  success,  to  thereafter  impose  taxation  as  a  means 
of  popular  exploitation  that  is  to  remain  permanent  and  unin- 
terrupted. 

When  the  taxing  power  is  analyzed;  when  its  purpose  and 
its  effect  upon  those  in  whose  hands  the  power  rests  is  noted, 
the  slowness  with  which  agriculture  has  reached  even  the  crude 
development  of  today  is  explained.  Tilling  the  soil  is  laborious 
and  results  uncertain,  while  farming  farmers  is  easy  and  results 
certain. 

In  peaceful  agriculture  there  is  neither  fame  nor  glory.  A 
great  name  enduringly  engraved  on  a  memorial  tablet  of  bronze 
or  stone  is  not  to  be  dug  from  the  earth  like  a  bushel  of  wheat. 
The  glory  of  enduring  fame  has  been  and  remains  for  men  who 
organize  great  armies,  engage  in  carnage,  murderous  destruc- 
tion, shedding  seas  of  human  blood.  Men  who  employ  wit  and 
energy  in  war;  men  having  the  power  to  tax  the  tiller  of  the 
soil  and  thus  despoil  him,  look  upon  his  vocation  with 
aversion,  and  treat  him  with  contemptuous  disregard.  Edu- 
cationally war  and  its  objects  became  the  exciting  cause  which 
turned  men  of  superior  intelligence  from  agriculture  and  made 
militancy  as  an  organized  profession  possible. 

The  war  spirit  is  now  everywhere  dominant.  Almost 
without  exception  the  heads  of  national  agencies,  reinforced  and 
sustained  by  the  priests  of  the  religion  of  love,  unitedly  lift  their 
voices  for  war!  That  primitive  peoples,  with  little  intellectual 
development,  low  ethical  and  moral  standards,  devoted  to  rude 
and  barbarous  practices,  should  engage  in  war  against  neigh- 
boring tribes  seems  in  accord  with  their  nature.  But  war  is 
clearly  incompatible  with  what  might  be  reasonably  -expected 
of  people  who  declare  themselves  intelligent  and  to  be  devoted 
to  pursuits  in  harmony  with  ethical  and  moral  requirements 
of  a  civilization  having  basis  in  a  religion  of  love  and  a  belief 
that  all  men  are  brothers.  Are  the  declarations  and  profes- 
sions of  professing  Christians  to  be  accepted  as  true,  or  as  sheer 
declamation  and  pretense. 

The  records  of  the  past  present  proof  in  abundance  show- 
ing the  futility  of  war;  but  "statesmen,"  politicians  and  priests 
are  devoted  to  upholding  agreeable  beliefs  and  alleged  princi- 
ples so  they  have  no  time  to  even  consider,  much  less  to  heed, 
lessons  from  facts.  The  few  who  hold  property,  and  live  com- 
fortably, remain  indifferent,  while  the  masses  who  carry  the 
load  are  kept  so  busy  sustaining  militancy  and  getting  neces- 
sities for  existence  that  they  have  no  time  for  inquiry  or 
thought.  As  a  result  the  people  of  all  the  "progressive"  nations 
of  the  earth  remain  subject  to  conditions  of  war;  filled  with 
obsessions  that  Justice  depends  upon  physical  force,  and  the 
ultimate  resource  for  righting  wrongs  resides  in  appeal  to  arms ! 

For  efficacy  and  effectiveness  in  obtainment  of  ends  sought, 
passive  resistance  has  never  received  deserved  consideration. 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  3 

An  attitude  of  passive  resistance,  as  a  means  of  defense  against 
aggression,  has  in  it  nothing  to  commend  itself  to  the  spirit 
whereby  would-be  rulers  of  mankind  are  animated.  And  yet, 
in  the  few  known  instances  where,  because  of  happy  accident, 
or  intelligent  design,  passive  resistance  has  been  made  the  re- 
source for  obtainment  of  desired  ends  and  has  been  resolutely 
adhered  to,  it  has  never  failed  of  successful  issue. 

About  the  middle  of  the  17th  century  a  few  non-resistant 
Quakers,  less  than  twenty  of  whom  were  active  in  offending, 
successfully  defied  the  power  and  authority  of  Massachusetts. 
They  were  pursued,  arrested  and  prosecuted  for  a  time,  but  Gov- 
ernor Endicott  was  finally  forced  to  admit  the  futility  of  it  all, 
and  to  allow  the  non-resistants  to  proceed  with  their  work  and 
hold  their  meetings  unmolested.  It  is  true  a  few  were  made  to 
undergo  grievous  sufferings.  They  were  arrested,  tried  and  im- 
prisoned. In  extreme  cases,  some  had  ears  cut  off,  tongues 
pierced  with  red  hot  iron,  cheeks  branded,  and  one,  a  woman, 
was  hanged.  But  suppose  the  Quakers  had  elected  to  meet  force 
with  force?  Their  defeat  would  not  only  have  proved  certain, 
but  if  they  had  persisted,  they  would  have  been  exterminated. 
By  remaining-  passive,  limiting  resistance  to  Authority  solely  to 
ba  manifested  through  peaceful  meetings,  they  not  only  gained 
all  they  sought,  but  obtained  it  at  least  possible  cost  in  hard- 
ship and  suffering. 

View  the  policy  of  the  Puritans  in  their  dealings  with  and 
treatment  of  the  Indians  of  New  England;  the  scenes  of  horror 
and  bloodshed  that  resulted  and  compare  with  the  policy  of  the 
Quakers  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  practically  undisturbed  peace 
and  harmony  in  which  they  and  the  Indians  lived  side  by  side. 

When  Stanley  undertook  the  expedition  to  "Darkest  Africa" 
in  search  of  Livingston,  his  party  went  fully  armed.  They  an- 
ticipated hostility,  and  they  found  it.  The  expedition  encoun- 
tered few  tribes  with  which  it  did  not  have  trouble.  Warfare 
was  almost  continuous,  and  the  course  of  the  expedition  across 
the  continent  was  marked  with  a  trail  of  blood. 

A  few  years  ago  Professor  Starr  of  Chicago  University 
visited  and  crossed  the  African  continent  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  habits  of  Apes,  and  to  ascertain  if  they  had  and 
employed  a  language  with  which  to  converse.  His  party  went 
unarmed.  Routes  hitherto  unknown  were  taken  and  tribes  not 
before  visited  by  white  men  were  encountered.  Some  of  these 
tribes  v/T.re  composed  of  cannibals.  But  being  approached  in  an 
attitude  of  friendliness  the  natives  everywhere  responded  in 
kind.  Starr  and  his  party  offered  harm  to  none,  and  they  were 
not  harmed.  Such  difficulties  as  arose  from  mutual  misunder- 
standings were  easily  adjusted  and  the  journeyings  of  the  ex- 
pedition proved  peaceful  from  beginning  to  end  . 

In  Russia  there  is  a  small  sect  composed  of  religious  fanatics 
known  to  the  external  world  as  Dukhobors.    A  few  years  ago  a 


4  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

portion  of  them  refused  to  serve  in  the  army.  Cossacks  were 
sent  against  them  to  enforce  compliance,  but  people  who  refused 
to  meet  force  with  force  were  not  to  be  shot  into  submissive 
states  of  obedience.  The  Czar  of  all  the  Russias,  sustained  and 
backed  by  a  million  bayonets  suffered  defeat  at  the  hands  of  a' 
few  unarmed,  poverty-stricken,  non-resistant  peasants.  A  few 
of  the  Dukhobors  were  killed,  a  few  more  were  wounded,  but  the 
victory  was  theirs ;  the  Czar  with  all  his  power  was  successfully 
defied  and  forced  to  acknowledge  defeat,  to  recognize  the  Duko- 
hobor's  claims  and  give  a  reluctant  consent  to  emigration.  If 
they  had  put  up  an  armed  resistance  they  would  have  suffered 
annihilation.  Two  or  three  thousand  of  them  left  Russia,  going 
to  Canada,  where  they  settled.  The  Canadian  government  is 
now  having  trouble  with  them  because  of  their  refusal  to  pay 
taxes  on  land  occupied.  If  they  remain  firm  in  their  attitude  and 
adhere  to  resolution,  the  Canadian  government  will  be  power- 
less against  them.  It  is  impossible  that  even  so  inconsiderable 
a  number  as  two  thousand  people  should  be  made  to  pay  tax 
upon  land  against  their  will  .  Also,  impossible  that  they  should 
be  taken  up  bodily,  forcibly  evicted  and  deported. 

A  few  years  ago  in  Ireland,  in  connection  with  trouble  grow- 
ing out  of  tenant  occupancy  of  parcels  of  land,  the  tenants  had 
recourse  to  the  Boycott.  It  is  the  opinion  of  intelligent  observ- 
ers of  scenes  and  events  of  those  days  who  viewed  the  situation 
at  close  range,  that  if  the  tenants,  at  the  critical  time  and  point, 
had  not  allowed  themselves  to  have  been  persuaded  by  the 
priests,  into  abandonment  of  the  boycott,  they  would  have  suc- 
ceeded in  obtainment  of  recognition  of  their  claims.  But  in 
consequence  of  abandonment  of  a  policy  of  passive  resistance, 
expressed  through  an  intelligently  applied  boycott,  they  suf- 
fered denial  and  defeat. 

In  connection  with  political  freedom  for  Ireland  it  remains 
a  fact  that  obtainment  has  not  been  gained  because  never  wise- 
ly attempted.  The  original  conquest  of  Ireland  by  Saxons  was 
effected  through  co-operation  and  aid  of  Irishmen;  and  during 
all  the  days  of  all  the  centuries  since  the  invasion  and  conquest, 
the  sole  essential  requisite  for  freedom  has  resided  in  Irish 
hands.  It  has  been  necessary  only,  that  Irishmen  should  stand 
together  in  refusing  to  recognize  England's  authority  and  to 
refuse  to  serve  as  soldiers  in  the  English  Army! 

It  is  the  habit  of  people  with  white  skins  to  speak  con- 
temptuously of  the  Chinese  as  a  people  who  are  lacking  in 
"military  virtues."  But  why  is  it  that  the  civilization  of  the 
Chinese  remains  as  the  most  stable  and  enduring  of  any  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  or  of  which  the  world  has  ever  known? 
The  mightiest  empires  of  earth  have  come  into  being,  flourished 
for  a  time,  sunk  into  decadence  and  passed  away.  Of  these 
empires  of  the  past  their  strongest  and  most  intelligent  men  de- 
voted their  highest  talent  and  energy  to  War!  The  "non- 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  5 

progressive"  Chinese  have  clung  to  pursuits  of  peace.  So  in- 
sistent and  firmly  resolved  were  they  in  adherence  to  policies 
of  peace  that  they  refused  to  fight  warlike  neighbors  to  obtain 
it;  and  along  the  northern  border  of  their  country  they  built 
a  gigantic  wall  1,200  miles  long,  to  the  end  that  fighting,  ma- 
rauding enemies  should  be  kept  out.  By  war  their  enemies 
perished  and  disappeared,  but  the  Chinese  lived  and  went  se- 
renely on.  Think  of  "progressive"  peoples — professing  Christian 
virtue  and  forbearance,  adopting  and  adhering  to  methods  of 
defense  similar  to  those  made  so  effective  by  the  Chinese! 

In  one  of  his  public  lectures  while  Minister  from  China  to 
the  United  States,  Wu  was  reported  as  having  said  that  China 
was  for  forty-five  centuries,  without  a  soldier !  Whatever  of  loss 
or  inconvenience  the  Chinese  people  may  have  been  made  to 
suffer  through  invasive  attacks  from  warlike  outsiders  they 
were  never  made  to  bear  the  infinitely  greater  losses  and  priva- 
tions involved  in  an  up-keep  of  a  big  military  establishment. 
The  nation  was  always  able  to  pay  as  it  went;  and  until  the 
Great  Powers,  of  which  the  United  States  was  one,  demanded 
and  obtained  an  enormous  indemnity  to  defray  cost  of  an  un- 
warranted interference  with  China's  internal  affairs  and  to 
pay  private  claims  for  damages  because  of  riotous  disturbances 
in  and  about  the  Chinese  Capitol  City  during  the  "Boxer"  out- 
break, there  was  no  public  debt.  The  nation  had  been  able  to 
get  along  without  incurring  debt  because  war  had  been  avoided ; 
and  it's  people  had  never  been  borne  down  with  crushing  loads 
of  taxation  necessitated  by  war  or  the  upkeep  of  a  great  mili- 
tary establishment.  Compare  the  treasuries  of  the  "progres- 
sive" nations  of  Europe,  that  of  the  United  States,  their  tre- 
mendous war  debts,  and  continuous  necessity  for  enormous  tax- 
ation with  that  of  China.  Does  the  comparison  presented  imply 
or  convey  no  lesson? 

Under  the  influence  of  a  "great  illusion"  and  unscrupulous 
motive  the  rulers  of  European  countries  have  sought  territorial 
aggrandizement.  The  countries  of  Asia  and  Africa  have  been 
invaded,  vast  areas  seized,  occupied  and  held  with  military  force. 
Recently  influenced  by  the  same  "illusion"  the  United  States 
has  engaged  in  similar  adventure  and  acquired  "Island  Posses- 
sions." 

In  view  of  what  has  been  done  by  these  powerful  "pro- 
gressive," and  Christian  nations  in  connection  with  invasion  and 
conquest  of  countries  inhabited  by  "inferior  peoples"  can  it  be 
doubted  by  any  intelligent  observer,  that  the  territorial  in- 
tegrity of  China  today,  is  due  solely  to  the  fact  that  the  Chinese 
people  have  been  contemptuously  looked  upon  as  being  "too 
contemptible  to  fight?"  That  partition  and  division  of  China 
has  been  entertained  and  discussed  by  fatuous  rulers  and 
"statesmen"  is  no  secret.  It  is  certain  that  no  ethical  or  moral 
consideration  operated  as  a  deterrent.  No  consideration  having 


6  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

to  do  with  the  welfare  and  well-being  of  the  Chinese  stayed  the 
absorbing  benevolence  or  the  assimilating  itch  of  Christian 
hands.  All  dark  skinned  peoples  who  have  resisted  invasion 
of  their  countries  thus  far,  with  a  few  minor,  but  only  one  im- 
portant exception,  (Abyssinia)  were  conquered  and  made  sub- 
ject to  an  alien  military  despotism.  The  situation  of  these  peo- 
ple has  been  made  infinitely  worse  and  more  hopeless  than  if 
they  had  not  lifted  a  hand  in  self-defense.  If  the  Chinese  had 
been  warlike,  is  it  not  more  than  probable  that  provocation  for 
attack  and  invasion  would  have  been  already  found  and  con- 
quest and  "partition"  of  their  country  been  made  actual  instead 
of  remaining  a  speculative  contemplation? 

In  imitation  and  under  tutelage  of  alien  and  "progressive" 
peoples  the  Chinese  are  now  being  betrayed  into  militancy;  and 
to  engage  themselves  with  the  fatality  of  self-armament  and 
the  up-keep  of  a  military  organization.  As  a  result  and  at  the 
very  outset,  the  Chinese  government  finds  itself  forced  into  the 
debt-buying  marts  of  the  world  to  effect  sale  of  bonds  repre- 
senting a  considerable  national  debt.  After  enjoying  the  bless- 
ings of  many  centuries  of  peace,  it  is  astonishing  that  such  a 
reversal  of  policy  and  attitude  should  be  made  and  it  remains 
to  be  seen  how  far  the  Chinese  people  will  permit  themselves 
to  be  led  into  the  criminal  follies  and  futilities  of  militancy.  If 
adhered  to,  the  beginning  of  China's  decadence  will  have  been 
marked — a  decadence  to  be  followed  by  speedy  decline,  ultimate 
exhaustion  and  a  final  disappearance  of  Chinese  autonomy. 

Whatever  threat  there  may  have  been  or  now  is  to  Chris- 
tian civilizations  from  the  "Yellow  Peril,"  exists  nowhere  ex- 
cept in  the  superheated  imaginations  of  would-be  great  military 
Captains  and  their  sympathizers.  But,  suppose,  that  the  re- 
cent astonishing  reversal  of  policy  and  change  of  attitude  on 
the  part  of  the  Chinese  has  the  effect  of  making  the  hereto- 
fore imaginary  "Yellow  Peril"  actual  and  imminent;  and  let 
it  be  further  supposed  that  the  Chinese  so  successfully  emulate 
and  pursue  the  policies  and  activities  of  Christian  nations  that 
they  conquer  and  subjugate  all  the  peoples  of  all  the  countries 
of  the  world,  what  will  have  been  the  probable  result  in  its  ef- 
fect upon  the  all-conquering  Chinese  themselves?  Only  this, 
that  in  conquering  the  world  its  conquerors  will  have  so  com- 
pletely exhausted  all  resources  as  to  have  reduced  themselves 
to  a  common  level  of  suffering,  poverty,  destitution  and  misery 
along  with  the  conquered.  The  testimonies  of  the  past  show 
that  armament  for  defense  and  preparedness  to  resist  invasion 
does  not  shield  and  safeguard,  but  operates  to  deny  declara- 
tion of  peaceful  intention,  and  therefore  to  excite  and  provoke 
attack  from  onlooking  outsiders. 

The  testimony  from  India  proves  beyond  controversy  that 
if  the  people  of  that  unhappily  ruled  country  had,  like  the 
Chinese,  devoted  themselves  to  pursuits  of  peace,  establishment 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  7 

of  the  iron  rule  of  England  would  have  remained  unthought  of 
— there  would  have  been  no  provoking  excitation.  In  the  be- 
ginning, in  the  interest  of  their  respective  countries,  Dupliex 
and  Clive  played  off  rival  bands  of  native  forces  against  each 
other,  until  Clive,  more  skillful  in  strategy  than  Dupliex,  gained 
the  advantage.  Later  came  the  tragedy  of  the  "Black  Hole" 
wherewith  to  conjure  and  appeal  to  British  passions.  From 
the  horror  of  the  Black  Hole  dates  the  actual  establishment 
of  British  Empire  of  India.  And  now,  after  more  than  150 
years  of  uninterrupted  supremacy  and  rule,  if  the  native  soldi- 
ery should  refuse  to  bear  arms  in  support  of  England's  rule, 
her  Empire  would  at  once  fall  and  disappear  into  nothingness 
as  quickly  as  a  summer's  mist. 

When  England  invaded  and  occupied  Egypt  as  bailiff  in  the 
interest  of  British  bondholders,  Fuzzy  Wuzzy  resisted — he  re- 
sisted with  such  vigor  and  valor  that  he  "broke  the  English 
Square!"  Something  that  no  other  of  the  world's  fighting  men 
ever  did.  But  of  what  avail  his  heroic  resistance  and  most 
bloody  sacrifice?  The  fighting  men  of  England  took  off  their 
hats  in  admiring  recognition  of  Fuzzy  Wuzzy's  valor ;  but  he  was 
defeated,  subjected  to  conditions  of  slavery  and  still  remains 
in  servitude.  If  in  refusing  to  recognize  England's  claim  he  had 
declined  to  fight,  denied  England's  authority  by  ignoring  it  and 
gone  about  the  business  of  satisfying  his  wants  as  best  he 
could,  he  would  have  thereby  made  England,  with  all  her  might, 
powerless  to  subdue  and  subjugate.  Fighting  men  when  opposed 
by  greater  numbers,  greater  resources,  or  superior  strategy  are 
easily  overcome  and  reduced  to  states  of  submission;  but  men 
capable  of  self-control,  wise  enough  to  remain  quiet  and 
calmly  look  would-be  invaders  in  the  eye  and  who  are  brave 
enough  to  refuse  to  fight  remain  invincible  and  unconquerable. 

That  a  people  subject  to  foreign  rule  should  become  rest- 
less and  that  a  people  so  situated  should  seek  relief  and  adopt 
measures  for  obtainment  of  freedom,  is  in  the  nature  of  things. 
But  it  does  not  follow  that  any  and  all  means  adopted  shall  be 
viewed  as  having  been  justifiable.  Intensity  of  outraged  feel- 
ing due  to  exasperating  irritations  to  which  people  despotically 
ruled  are  continuously  subjected  moves  them  to  employ  violent 
measures  for  relief,  and  supercharged  feeling  is  set  up  in  excuse 
and  justification;  but  the  penalty  for  unwisdom  may  not  be 
thus  set  aside  and  averted.  The  sense  of  -deep  injury,  the  con- 
suming anger  born  of  it,  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  which  fires 
people  in  a  struggle  for  freedom,  makes  them  incapable  of  listen- 
ing to  and  heeding  the  voice  of  reason  and  they  are  thereby 
betrayed  into  all  kinds  of  intemperance  of  action ;  but  the  pen- 
alty for  acts  of  folly  must  be  paid.  However  desirable  an  end 
sought,  it's  obtainment  through  acts  of  violence  and  bloodshed 
always  proves  more  costly,  while  it  remains  less  sure,  than 
rational  and  peaceful  measures. 


8  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

Suppose  an  appeal  to  arms  and  war's  arbitrament  involves 
sacrifice  of  100  units  of  life,  an  expenditure  of  100  units  of  ef- 
fort, the  undergoing  of  100  units  of  privation,  with  proportion- 
ate amounts  of  suffering  and  misery;  when  obtainment  of  all 
that  was  sought  might  have  been  secured  at  a  cost  of  one 
unit  of  life  and  expenditure  of  one  unit  of  effort,  the  hardship 
of  one  unit  of  privation  with  proportionately  diminished  suffer- 
ing and  misery,  if  peaceful  methods  had  been  adopted  and 
adhered  to.  May  appeal  to  arms  and  going  to  war  still  be 
viewed  and  judged  as  a  reasonable  and  justifiable  resource? 

The  revolt  of  the  American  colonies  against  the  rule  of 
England  is  universally  spoken  of  and  accepted  as  having  been 
a  righteous  undertaking.  The  appeal  to  arms  for  obtainment 
of  political  freedom  was  in  accord  with  practice  and  resulted  in 
final  success ;  but  all  that  was  so  painfully  and  laboriously  gained 
could  have  been  obtained  without  firing  a  shot,  or  the  undergo- 
ing of  the  terrible  and  countless  privations  and  the  awful  suffer- 
ings of  a  long  and  bloody  war.  At  the  close  of  the  revolutionary 
struggle  the  whole  American  people  were  reduced  to  deepest 
depths  of  poverty  and  destitution.  Immense  sacrifices  had  been 
made.  Thousands  had  given  up  their  lives,  a  vastly  greater  num- 
ber of  thousands  were  so  shattered  and  broken  in  health  by 
wounds,  disease  and  hardships  endured  that  they  survived  the 
war's  close  but  a  short  time ;  and  very  few  participants  recovered 
fully  from  injuries  received  during  that  prolonged  and  ter- 
rible struggle.  They  gained  freedom,  but  at  what  a  cost !  A  cost 
as  needless  as  it  had  been  terrible. 

Subject  to  constant  and  exasperating  irritation  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  resentment  and  anger  thus  kindled,  should  at  last 
flame  into  passionate  and  uncontrollable  outburst;  that  people 
so  affected  should  be  moved  to  intemperance  of  speech  and  act, 
but,  as  has  just  been  said,  however  deep  the  sense  of  injury  and 
however  natural  intensity  of  feeling  may  be,  justification  for 
acts  of  folly,  or  escape  from  penalty,  is  not  made  possible  be- 
cause of  uncontrollability  of  emotions. 

War  rights  no  wrongs — it  deepens  and  intensifies  them. 
There  is  always  an  enormous  debit  balance.  All  that  is  gained 
through  war  invariably  costs  more  than  it  is  worth.  War 
never  builds  up  nor  conserves;  it  always  tears  down  and  des- 
troys. It  operates  as  a  paralyzing  blight  upon  industrial  ac- 
tivity and  every  refining  and  civilizing  influence.  It  brutalizes 
every  human  instinct.  It  impoverishes  victor  and  vanquished 
alike.  All  the  "progressive"  peoples  of  the  earth  are  today  being 
borne  down  and  crushed  by  an  enormous  load  of  taxation  made 
necessary  for  up-keep  of  military  establishments  and  the  pay- 
ment of  interest  on  gigantic  war  debts.  The  notion  that  people 
are  or  can  be  protected  against  foreign  invasion  and  spoliation 
through  self -armament  and  a  readiness  for  war  has  no  basis  in 
fact,  \rmed  militancy  enslaves  and  despoils  those  who  employ 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  9 

it  for  defense  as  certainly  and  completely  as  it  does  those 
against  whom  its  force  is  aggressively  directed.  The  agencies 
of  a  friendly,  home-grown,  home-supported  military  establish- 
ment will  take  from  a  loyal  people  all  that  is  required  for  its 
up-keep,  and  hostile  militancy  cannot  take  more. 

Freedom  of  action  for  anybody,  in  any  capacity  or  con- 
nection, is  incompatible  with  the  requirements  of  militant  org- 
anization; everything  must  be  made  subordinate  to  military 
exigency.  Such  obtainments  and  recognitions  of  freedom  for 
individuals  as  have  been  gained  came  into  being  in  spite  of  war- 
like activities  and  not  at  all  because  of  them.  As  a  result  of 
war  nothing  more  than  change  of  ruler,  or  change  in  form  of 
depotisim  has  ever  been  gained.  All  that  the  colonists  gained 
through  separation  from  England  was  opportunity  to  set  up  a 
political  despotism,  directed  and  controlled  by  native  profes- 
sional politicians,  in  place  of  despotic  rule  of  England,  directed 
and  controlled  by  foreign  professional  politicians. 

If  the  people  of  Boston  and  vicinity  had  taken  counsel  of 
reason,  instead  of  listening  to  incendiary  talk  and  heeding  ad- 
vice of  agitators,  no  such  indefensible  exploit  as  the  "Boston 
Tea  Party,"  would  have  taken  place.  The  shippers  of  the  tea 
destroyed  had  nothing  to  do  with  putting  a  tax  on  tea;  and  if 
they  had,  they,  nor  the  power  of  England  behind  them  could 
compel  the  people  of  Boston  to  buy  and  drink  the  tea.  At  about 
the  same  time  other  shipments  were  made  to  Philadelphia  and 
Charleston.  The  people  at  these  places  simply  declared  they 
would  neither  buy  nor  use  the  tea  and  adhered  to  their  resolu- 
tion. Nothing  of  violence  or  destruction  of  property  was  en- 
gaged in.  After  the  war  was  over  the  tea,  mouldy  and  musty 
with  age,  was  returned  to  England  by  its  owners  where  they 
disposed  of  it  as  best  they  could.  The  owners  of  the  tea  had 
no  cause  for  cherishing  bitterness  of  feeling  against  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  it  had  been  originally  shipped,  and  the  people  of 
Philadelphia  and  Charleston  had  no  unjustifiable  act  to  regret. 

It  may  have  been  that  no  troops  would  have  been  sent  to 
Boston  if  the  people  of  that  place  had  been  less  intemperate  in 
their  speech  and  acts.  None  were  sent  elsewhere  until  after  an 
attitude  of  open  hostility  had  been  assumed.  All  petitions  hav- 
ing been  denied,  suppose  the  colonists  had  through  orderly  mass 
meetings  or  delegate  conventions,  declared  for  political  inde- 
pendence, set  about  effecting  such  self-governing  arrangements 
as  were  deemed  necessary,  and  then  devoted  themselves  to  pri- 
vate and  domestic  affairs  and  peaceful  industry,  what  could 
England  have  done  to  regain  political  allegiance  to  itself?  How 
could  governing  control  of  the  colonies  been  regained?  Sup- 
pose as  many  or  even  more  troops  had  been  sent  to  America 
than  were  sent,  what  could  have  been  done  with  them?  Of 
what  avail  are  soldiers  against  a  people  who  will  not  fight? 
Some  seizures  of  property  for  non-payment  of  taxes  might  have 


10  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

been  made,  probably  would  have  been  made,  but  what  could 
have  been  done  with  the  property?  It  could  not  have  been  sold 
in  America  and  very  little  could  have  been  taken  abroad.  In  all 
probability  numerous  persons  would  have  been  arrested,  tried, 
imprisoned,  and  some  executed.  But  no  great  number  could 
have  been  shot  or  hanged.  And  would  more  of  hardship  and  suf- 
ering  have  resulted  from  property  confiscations  and  arbitrary 
imprisonment  of  individuals  than  was  borne  by  all  the  people 
during  seven  years  of  actual  war  and  for  many  years  there- 
after? Suppose  England  had  persisted  in  confiscatory  seizures 
of  property  and  imprisoning  of  individuals  for  as  many  years  as 
the  war  lasted?  It  would  have  been  impossible  that  a  tithe  of 
the  loss  actually  experienced  during  the  war  could  have  been 
made;  and  nowhere  near  as  many  persons  could  have  been  im- 
prisoned as  were  killed  or  permanently  disabled.  But  in  the 
face  of  the  whole  world  whose  sympathies  would  have  been 
with  the  oppressed  colonists,  England  could  no  more  have  car- 
ried out,  year  after  year,  a  policy  of  intimidation  and  subjuga- 
tion by  confiscation  of  property  and  general  imprisonment  of 
people,  than  she  could  have  successfully  employed  troops  gainst 
non-resistants. 

Another  thing,  during  the  whole  progress  of  the  war  there 
was  a  formidable  opposition  to  it  in  England.  The  conflict  be- 
tween Authority  and  Liberty  was  being  waged  between  the  two 
political  parties  of  England  pari  passu  with  that  w  aged  in  the 
colonies.  It  is  more  than  probable,  therefore,  that  the  English 
government  would  not  have  dared  to  further  provoke  and  fur- 
ther arouse  opposing  opinion  of  the  home  public  by  projecting 
an  armed  invasion  in  the  midst  of  a  people  engaged  only  in  pas- 
sive resistance  to  home  authority.  A  protest  from  the  whole 
world  would  have  been  forthcoming;  an  adverse  opinion,  world- 
wide in  its  generality  is  too  powerful  in  its  respect-compelling 
force  to  be  ignored  or  resisted  by  even  the  mightiest  of  nations ; 
for  in  respect  to  such  influences,  nations  like  individuals,  can- 
not remain  indifferent  and  refuse  to  heed.  Continuous  refusal 
to  recognize,  and  defiance  of,  general  opinion  requires  more  of 
fortitude  and  endurance  than  mankind  possesses  either  in  in- 
dividual or  collective  capacity.  The  liberals  in  England  gained 
a  majority  and  effected  a  bloodless  revolution,  the  American 
colonies  easily  could  have  done  the  same.  And  will  anybody 
who  loves  peace,  who  loves  truth,  deny  that  the  force  of  such 
a  glorious  achievement  and  example  would  have  failed  to  oper- 
ate as  a  sure  and  lasting  guide  for  all  mankind?  And  that  its 
effect  would  have  been  to  stay  the  bloody  hand  of  war  to  the 
end  that  during  all  the  years  since  that  noteworthy  struggle 
wars  would  have  been  less  numerous,  and  there  would  have 
been  less  of  needless  sacrifice  of  human  life  and  happiness? 

It  is  to  observe  and  note  the  significance  of  what  men  have 
done  who  have  gone  before.  It  is  not  to  censure  the  men  of  '76 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  11 

for  engaging  in  war  with  the  mother  country ;  they  acted  in  ac- 
cord with  the  lights  they  had,  they  were  not  wise  enough  to  adopt 
and  resolutely  adhere  to  a  policy  of  passive  resistance.  There 
were  too  many  Puritans  and  too  few  Quakers  among  them.  The 
aggressive  spirit  of  dominion,  self-assertion,  fierce  intolerance, 
and  desire  for  conquest,  which  animated  the  Puritans  over- 
shadowed and  nullified  the  gentle  spirit  of  brotherly  love,  sweet 
tolerance,  and  non-aggressive  attitude  habitual  to  the  Quakers. 
The  men  of  those  days  did  the  best  they  knew,  but  if  they  had 
been  wiser  and  political  independence  had  been  gained  by  a 
peaceful  and  bloodless  revolution,  future  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  country  inevitably,  would  have  proceeded  along  dif- 
ferent and  happier  lines.  War's  devastations  and  a  reduction 
of  the  people  to  states  of  deep  privation  and  penury  would  not 
have  been  experienced.  Interruptions  to  industrial  activity  be- 
fore independence  was  gained  would  have  been  few,  infrequent, 
and  inconsequent  in  general  effect.  Instead  of  having  been  re- 
duced to  the  verge  of  complete  exhaustion  the  people  would  have 
remained  strong  and  prosperous,  ready  to  go  forward  at  once; 
with  mighty  bound,  when  political  independence  became  an 
established  fact.  The  form  of  political  organization  effected, 
probably,  would  have  been  genuinely  republican,  instead  of  oli- 
garchical; but,  whatever  the  form,  its  essence  would  have  been 
in  haVmony  with  the  needs  of  a  people  devoted  to  peaceful  in- 
dustry, with  its  mutual  and  reciprocal  relations.  There  would 
have  been  little  or  no  thought — certainly  no  dominating 
thought — of  a  political  organization  calculated  to  fulfill  require- 
ment of  a  nation  devoted  to  war  and  conquest! 

Perhaps  peace  policies  might  not  have  been  consistently  ad- 
hered to  at  all  times,  but  at  least  the  barren  war  of  1812,  the 
inexcusable  war  with  Mexico,  and  more  recently  with  Spain, 
would  never  have  occurred.  The  folly  of  the  second  war  with 
England  and  the  subsequent  Mexican  and  Spanish  infamies 
would  have  remained  impossible,and  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  have  been  spared  the  ignominy,  the  infinite  shame 
and  disgrace  of  having  so  far  forgot  themselves  and  every  con- 
sideration of  humanity  and  justice,  as  to  have  engaged  in  wars 
so  despicable.  Nor  would  the  policies  of  the  United  States  have 
been  so  shaped  as  to  excite  the  suspicion  and  distrust  of  all  the 
peoples  of  Central  and  South  American  countries.  There  never 
would  have  been  any  tremendous  internecine  conflict  deluging 
the  country  with  brothers'  blood. 

No  other  historical  event  presents  so  convincing  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  futility  of  appeal  to  arms  as  the  Civil  War.  The 
causes  which  moved  the  people  of  the  North  and  South  to  en- 
gage in  that  terrible  conflict  need  not  be  inquired  into.  The 
people  of  the  South,  at  least  a  dominating  majority,  wished  to 
withdraw  from  the  Federal  Union  and  set  up  a  political  organ- 
ization and  government  of  their  own.  Sincerity  of  desire  and 


12  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

purpose  were  amply  proved  by  four  years  of  struggle  accom- 
panied by  unparalleled  sacrifice  of  life,  destruction  of  property, 
privation  and  suffering.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  the  South 
desired  political  independence,  that  their  heroic  struggle  and 
tremendous  sacrifice  to  gain  the  end  sought  met  with  failure 
complete  and  miserable. 

Having  decided  upon  withdrawal  from  the  Federal  Union, 
suppose  the  people  of  the  South,  while  resolutely  holding  to 
determination,  had  refrained  from  threat  or  act  implying  in- 
tention of  employing  physical  force?  After  passing  ordinances 
of  Secession,  suppose  they  had.  quietly  gone  about  their  usual 
activities?  Contenting  themselves,  whenever  occasion  required, 
with  declaration  of  wish  and  purpose;  and  with  clearly  defined 
denials  of  validity  of  any  claim  set  up,  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  for  exercise  of  any  governing  juris- 
diction over  them;  and  that  resistance  to  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  had  been  expressed  only  in  refusal  to  recognize 
or  obey,  what  could  the  federal  government,  or  the  people  of  the 
North  have  done  about  it? 

It  was  the  shot  at  Sumter  that  fired  the  hearts  and  indig- 
nation of  the  people  of  the  North,  and  made  the  raising  and 
equipment  of  a  conquering  army  of  more  than  a  million  of  men, 
possible.  If  the  people  of  the  South  had  simply  declared  for 
secession,  gone  about  their  daily  business,  with  no  thought  of 
armed  resistance,  the  government  of  the  United  States  would 
have  remained  powerless  to  compel  obedience.  Just  as  certainly 
as  it  is  impossible  that  a  whole  people,  inhabiting  a  consider- 
able area,  shall  be  indicted  and  proceeded  against  in  a  criminal 
court,  so  it  remains  impossible  that  a  people  who  refuse  to  en- 
gage in  war  shall  be  conquered  and  subjugated  by  war.  Even 
if  the  sentiment  of  the  people  of  the  North  had  been  unanimous 
and  united  in  favor  of  backing  up  the  Federal  Government  in  at- 
tempt to  coerce  the  South  with  bayonets  it  would  have  been 
impossible  that  it  should  have  been  done;  for  the  sentiment  of 
the  whole  world  beside  would  have  been  against  it,  and  in  the 
face  of  adverse  opinion  of  world-wide  generality  no  nation  is 
powerful  enough  to  proceed. 

If  the  people  of  the  South  had  simply  declared  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  and  to  the  world,  that  they  had  set  up  a 
political  government  of  their  own,  and  that  all  peoples,  acting 
either  in  individual  or  collective  capacity  who  wished  to  have 
dealings  or  communication  with  them  could  do  so  only  through 
such  channels  as  were  singular  to  the  people  and  government 
of  the  Confederate  States  within  those  States;  that  having 
severed  all  political  connection  with  the  United  States,  it  was 
impossible  that  intercourse  or  communication  should  be  sus- 
tained through  any  agency  or  department  of  that  government, 
it  would  have  taken  a  little  while  for  readjustment — there  would 
have  been  something  of  confusion  and  inconvenience — perhaps 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  13 

much  of  it,  but  it  would  not  have  been  for  long.  Suppose,  how- 
ever, that  much  of  confusion  and  annoying  inconvenience  had 
been  suffered;  and  that  it  had  continued  for  as  long  a  time  as 
the  war  itself  lasted;  as  long  as  all  the  dismal  years  during 
which  the  horrors  of  "reconstruction"  were  being  forcibly  im- 
posed upon  the  prostrate  people  of  the  South,  would  there  have 
been  a  millionth  part  of  the  sacrifice,  privation,  intensity  of 
suffering,  and  bitterness  of  humiliation  that  resulted  from  four 
years  of  unsuccessful  war? 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  notwithstanding  the  warlike 
attitude  asumed  from  the  first  by  the  people  of  the  South,  the 
extreme  provocation  involved  in  and  the  intense  indignation 
and  excitement  caused  by  firing  on  Sumter,  there  remained 
much  diversity  and  variance  of  opinion  among  the  people  of 
the  North.  There  was  a  very  considerable  number  who  were 
not  in  favor  of  "vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war!"  and  if  the 
South  had  not  engaged  itself  in  preparation  for  war  and  actually 
began  hostilities,  there  would  have  been  few  to  demand  that 
the  Federal  Government  should  engage  itself  in  war  to  keep 
the  South  in  the  Union,  or  to  approve  and  support  it  in  the  un- 
dertaking. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  South  would  have  achieved 
its  desire  and  gained  political  separation  and  independence  from 
the  United  States  if  it  had  adopted  and  resolutely  adhered  to 
peaceful  measures  for  obtainment.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
in  present  states  of  human  imperfection  in  intellectual,  ethical 
and  moral  development,  that  people  shall  so  control  feeling  as 
to  permit  intelligent  action  in  the  presence  of  exasperating  ir- 
ritations, oft  repeated  and  long  endured;  but  this  has  nothing 
to  do  with,  nor  does  it  weaken  the  cogency  of  facts  showing  the 
absurdity  and  futility  of  engaging  in  war  for  obtainment  of 
relief. 

The  people  of  the  'South  desired  political  independence.  On 
the  altar  of  Desire  they  offered  themselves  a  blood  sacrifice,  suf- 
fering all  the  horrors  and  privations  of  four  years  of  war,  only 
to  bring  upon  themselves  utter  defeat  and  in  addition  all  the 
bitterness  of  humiliation  involved  in  a  long  period  of  enforced 
subordination  to  an  inferior  race.  If  the  end  sought  justified 
all  the  horrors  endured;  if  the  effort  was  worth  what  it  cost; 
how  infinitely  greater  in  worth  would  have  been  a  course  which, 
certainly,  would  have  been  crowned  with  success.  If  it  would 
have  been  a  noble  and  glorious  achievement  to  have  gained  in- 
dependence through  war  as  it  would  have  been  historically  con- 
sidered, how  much  more  noble  and  glorious  to  have  gained  it 
without  striking  a  blow  or  the  shedding  of  a  drop  of  blood? 
What  an  example  for  future  generations!  If  the  South  had 
dec]ined  to  engage  in  armed  conflict  for  obtainment  of  its 
"rights,"  it  would  not  only  have  gained  all  contended  for,  but 
the  glory  of  its  wisdom  would  have  illumined  the  world,  and  by 


14  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

its  splendid  example  had  the  effect  of  unfettering  and  freeing 
all  the  oppressed  peoples  of  earth.  The  world  today  would  not 
be  a  vast  military  camp,  filled  with  worse  than  useless  fighting 
men;  the  most  of  mankind  would  not  now  be  propertyless ;  one- 
half  of  the  people  of  earth  would  not  now  be  living  in  poverty, 
squalor  and  misery;  and  all  because  their  substance  was  being 
forcibly  taken  from  them  to  sustain  conditions  of  war! 

Perhaps  not  all  of  the  wars  that  have  been  fought  during 
the  past  fifty  years  would  have  been  averted;  but  in  the  light 
of  such  an  example — with  object  gained,  as  would  have  been 
presented  by  the  South's  achievement,  people  everywhere  would 
have  received  intellectual  and  moral  illumination  sufficient  to 
have  made  them  too  wise  to  approve  and  yield  themselves  to 
ambitions  and  purposes  of  alleged  statesmen,  and  the  direction 
of  reverend  savages  who  "battle  for  the  Lord,"  and  ever  clamor 
for  war! 

The  institution  of  African  slavery  would  have  persisted  for 
a  time,  but  not  for  long.  Its  economic  error  had  been  recognized 
by  many,  if  not  most  of  the  people  of  the  South — it  did  not  pay. 
The  development  of  ethical  and  moral  perception  has  ever  de- 
pended upon  utilitarian  considerations.  People  did  not  perceive, 
accept  and  adopt  rules  of  common  honesty  in  dealing  with  one 
another,  until  it  became  apparent  that  "honesty  was  the 
best  policy."  So  it  was  with  the  holding  of  human  beings  as 
chattels  in  slavery.  It  was  not  viewed  as  a  moral  wrong  until 
after  involved  economic  error  became  too  obvious  to  be  longer 
ignored.  Abolition  of  slavery  in  the  South  had  become  inevi- 
table. If  the  South  had  gained  its  independence,  slavery  could 
not  have  been  perpetuated.  The  sentiment  of  the  world  was 
against  it.  Its  abolition  would  have  been  effected  gradually, 
however,  without  violence,  without  bitterness  of  feeling  affect- 
ing anybody.  Master  nor  slave  would  have  been  made  to  suffer 
the  fears,  terrors,  hardships  or  privations  involved  in  sudden 
termination  as  an  exigency  of  war.  There  would  have  been 
nothing  of  mutual  distrust  and  enmity  between  the  races. 

In  blood  and  suffering,  in  expiation  for  the  sin  of  slavery, 
the  people  of  the  whole  country  have  been  made  to  pay  a  ter- 
rible price.  A  nominal  freedom  for  the  negro  has  been  purchas- 
ed at  a  price  involving  actual  enslavement  of  all — both  white 
and  black — to  the  requirements  and  up-keep  of  a  big  military 
establishment  and  the  policies  of  a  great  "World  Power,"  de- 
voted to  conquest  and  territorial  aggrandizement. 

The  North  American  continent  would  have  been  divided  into 
four  separate  political  jurisdictions  instead  of  three  as  now,  but 
the  difference  in  effect  upon  industrial  activities,  the  welfare 
and  well-being  of  the  people,  because  of  that,  would  have  been 
merely  nominal.  There  would  have  been  no  sectional  wounds  to 
heal.  The  people,  North  and  South,  would  not  have  been  affect- 
ed with  deep  resentments,  long  persisti?i£  animosities,  intense 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  15 

hatreds  and  the  bitterness  of  feeling  which  grew  out  of  four 
years  of  dreadful  war;  and  the  miserable  years  of  ill-advised 
"reconstruction"  which  followed.  The  interests  of  the  people  of 
both  sections  being  mutual  and  reciprocal,  recognition  and  con- 
formity to  requirements  of  identity  of  interest  would  have  be- 
come mutual  and  reciprocal. 

The  evils  which  grew  out  of  the  Civil  War  were  numerous ; 
and  in  effect  were  monstrous  in  their  cruelty  and  injustice,  and 
many  of  them  still  persist  with  increased  force  and  malevolence. 
Whatever  the  form  or  nominal  character  of  a  government,  once 
war  is  engaged  in,  everything  must  be  made  subordinate  to 
war's  purpose,  and  the  government  becomes  resolved  into  a 
military  despotism.  Very  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War,  at  numerous  places  throughout  the  North  citizens  sus- 
pected of  disloyalty  were  seized  with  considerable  frequency; 
and,  without  examination  or  trial,  turned  over  to  the  military 
and  imprisoned  in  fortresses.  By  those  in  authority  the  ex- 
igencies of  war  were  made  the  excuse  and  justification  for  acts 
and  measures  whereby  all  the  traditions  and  former  policies  of 
the  nation  in  its  past  were  ignored,  set  aside,  reversed  or  in- 
verted, and  complete  political  revolution  effected.  From  its 
beginning,  and  up  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  it  was  held  that 
the  general  government  of  the  United  States  was  one  of  dele- 
gated powers ;  that  its  sphere  and  scope  was  limited  to  and  with- 
in the  powers  delegated.  While  since  those  unhappy  days  the 
claim  and  practice  has  been  that  any  and  all  power,  not  ex- 
pressly inhibited  by  the  Constitution,  may  and  shall  be  exer- 
cised. 

As  a  war  measure,  and  affected  by  influences  which  worked 
to  nullify  the  Constitution,  the  Congress  was  moved  to  engage 
itself  with  legislation  whereby  a  hacking  system,  born  of  long 
years  of  costly  experience,  which  was  rapidly  growing  into  con- 
ditions of  soundness  and  splendid  efficiency,  was  arbitrarily 
destroyed,  and  the  ci  ide,  imperfectly  devised  National  Banking 
arrangement  set  up  in  its  place.  If  there  had  been  no  Civil 
War  the  country  would  have  been  spared  all  the  privations  in- 
cident to  prevalence  of  abnormally  high  rates  of  interest  during 
a  period  of  more  than  fifty  years,  and  all  the  terrors  and  fright- 
ful monetary  losses  that  have  come  to  its  people  because  of  four 
disastrous  panics.  Conditions  bordering  on  financial  disturbance 
and  panic  have  been  manifested  at  some  time  during  almost 
every  year  for  more  than  forty  years;  and  there  have  been  two 
panics  during  which  distress  remained  acute  for  more  than  five 
years.  The  one  of  '73  beginning  with  the  failure  of  Jay  Cooke 
&  Company ;  the  other  of  '93  beginning  with  the  failure  of  Bar- 
ing- Bros,  of  London  in  1890. 

There  had  been  two  panics  prior  to  the  war  period — those 
of  1837  and  1857.  Those  panics  were  intensified,  if  not  actually 
caused  by  the  fact  that  a  great  majority  of  the  banks  of  the 


1G  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

country  were  organized  and  conducted  along  lines  laid  down  in 
the  pseudo  "Currency  Principle."  But  the  lessons  of  those  ter- 
rible years  and  of  other  costly  experiences,  had  been  sufficient 
to  teach  and  turn  bankers  from  this  false  method  of  banking, 
and  during  the  years  immediately  preceding  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War  the  banks  of  the  country  had  rapidly  become  organiz- 
ed, and  reorganized  in  accord  with  the  "Banking  Principle."  The 
soundness  of  the  "Banking  Principle,"  and  the  splendid  efficiency 
of  banks  organized  and  conducted  in  accord  with  it  had  been  un- 
mistakably proven  during  the  panic  of  '57.  No  bank  of  that 
kind  had  failed  during  the  disastrous  year,  and  very  few  had 
been  forced  to  suspend;  and  these  for  only  a  very  short  time. 
The  National  Banking  Act  forced  bankers  to  again  face  about 
and  return  to  the  alleged,  but  over  and  over  again  exploded, 
"Currency  Principle,"  as  a  basis  for  bank  organization.  With 
the  result  that  today  there  is  no  system  of  banking  in  the  United 
States,  merely  on  arbitrary  arrangement ;  and  in  the  whole  coun- 
try there  is  not  a  bank  note  in  circulation  which  represents 
credit.  Every  bank  note  in  circulation  has  cost  more  than  its 
face  value  to  bring  it  into  being. 

Against  the  counsels  of  the  most  eminent  and  efficient 
bankers  of  the  country,  and  against  the  practically  united  op- 
position of  all  the  banks  of  the  country,  the  national  banking  ar- 
rangement was  violently  thrust  upon  the  people.  Existing 
banks,  and  the  people  were  forced  to  submit,  because  to  gain 
the  end  sought,  administrative  agencies,  imposed  the  iniquitous 
and  destructive  10  per  cent  tax  upon  all  circulating  notes  of 
banks,  other  than  those  of  national  banks.  In  the  absence  of 
arbitrary  arrangements  thus  set  up,  no  banking  or  money  mon- 
opoly could  ever  have  grown  into  being! 

For  about  twenty  years  prior  to  the  war  period,  and  es- 
pecially so  after  the  "Walker  Tariff"  of  1846,  the  trend  of  eco- 
nomic thought  and  of  legislation,  had  been  in  favor,  and  to- 
wards the  granting  of  freedom  of  trade.  As  an  effect  of  the 
Civil  War  all  this  was  changed ;  and  as  a  further  effect  the  long 
exploded  "Mercantile  System"  was  revived,  rehabilitated  and 
put  into  practice  under  guise  and  name  of  "Protection"  and  a 
"Protective  Tariff."  The  theory  of  the  "Mercantile  System" 
is  set  up  in  the  doctrine  that  wealth  consists  in  the  precious 
metals;  that  no  trade  is  advantageous  except  that  in  which 
goods  are  exchanged  for  gold  (and  silver),  and  the  one  who 
parts  with  gold  is  injured  thereby.  Belief  and  acceptance  of  the 
"Mercantile  Theory,"  constituted  a  resource  exactly  suited  to 
the  ambitions  and  purposes  of  rulers  who  sought  conquest  of 
the  world;  the  subjugation  and  bringing  of  all  peoples  under 
personal  despotic  dominion  and  subjecting  them  to  perpetual 
exactions  of  tribute. 

Among  the  first,  if  not  the  first  to  exemplify  and  make 
practical  application  of  the  "Mercantile  Theory,"  was  Charles 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  17 

V.  of  Spain.  The  present  status  of  Spain,  among  Earth's  na- 
tions, is  truly  representative  of  an  outcome  inevitable  to  a  na- 
tion adhering  to  policies  based  upon  the  "Mercantile  Theory." 
From  a  position  of  world  dominance  Spain  has  descended  to 
such  weakness  and  insignificance  that  she  exerts  no  influence 
whatever.  No  nation  of  Earth  today  is  relatively  so  strong  as 
Spain  was  at  the  zenith  of  her  power  during  the  reign  of  Char- 
les V. 

If  the  alleged  principles  of  the  "Mercantile  System"  were 
true;  if  the  claims  set  up  in  justification  of  policies  of  aggres- 
sion and  universal  conquest  had  valid  basis  instead  of  being  the 
weakest  and  poorest  of  nations,  Spain  would  be  the  most  power- 
ful and  richest.  Belief  in  the  doctrine  that  a  nation's  wealth 
depended  upon  aggression  and  conquest  led  the  rulers  of  Spain 
to  devote  that  country's  energies  and  resources  to  war,  to  the 
end  that  gold  might  always  be  obtained  for  goods,  and  ever  flow 
into  the  coffers  of  Spain.  That  war  degrades  and  impoverishes 
victor  as  well  as  vanquished  has  been  indubitably  shown  by 
Molonari  in  his  book  entitled  "The  Society  of  Tomorrow,"  and 
more  recently  by  Norman  Angell  in  a  volume  entitled  "The  Great 
Illusion." 

The  "Mercantile  System"  is  no  longer  accepted  as  valid; 
and  yet  it  is  adhered  to  in  practice  by  most  of  the  nations  of 
the  world;  and  has  been  by  the  United  States  for  more  than 
forty  years  and  up  to  date.  Its  continued  vitality  resides  in  the 
fact  that  it  constitutes  an  ever  available  and  agreeable  resource 
for  those  who  wish  or  choose  to  engage  in  policies  of  aggression. 
The  essence  of  the  theory  of  "Protection"  is  identical  with  that 
of  the  "Mercantile  System."  It  is  the  claim  of  each  theory 
that  trade  is  beneficial  to  but  one  of  the  parties  thereto;  that 
profit  for  one  is  obtainable  only  through  injury  to  the  other. 
The  value  of  goods  sold  must  always  exceed  the  value  of  goods 
bought  so  that  the '"balance  of  trade"  shall  always  remain  in 
favor  of  the  seller — a  balance  to  be  paid  in  gold !  The  Congress 
passed  a  Tariff  Bill  based  upon  considerations  identical  with 
those  of  this  long  discredited  theory,  and  a  few  years  afterwards 
the  man  whose  name  this  Bill  bore  became  a  successful  candidate 
for  the  presidency.  During  the  campaign  which  resulted  in  his 
election,  he  went  about  the  country  giving  voice  and  the  cre- 
dence of  a  great  name,  to  the  pseudo  doctrines  of  the  "Mercan- 
tile System."  The  people  were  told  that  under  "Protection" 
"the  foreigner  paid  the  tax,"  and  "the  balance  of  trade  in  favor 
of  the  country" — that  is,  excess  in  value  of  goods  sold  over  goods 
bought — "would  be  paid  in  gold !"  The  doctrine  is  vicious  in  its 
falsity.  Think  of  the  ethical  and  moral  purity,  and  the  nobility 
of  motive  which  seeks  to  make  foreigners  pay  for  the  up-keep 
of  home  institutions,  and  to  mulct  them  by  trading  away  un- 
desirable goods  for  the  precious  wealth  of  gold!  Nothing  is 
more  vicious  than  influences  born  of  notions  which  affirm  the 


18  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

legitimacy  of  getting  something  for  nothing  by  artifice  and 
trick. 

The  doctrines  of  "Protection"  ignore,  set  aside,  and  nul- 
lify influences  born  of  social  instincts  which  tend  to  draw  to- 
gether and  unite  mankind  in  amiable  and  reciprocal  associa- 
tion— in  effect  they  are  anti-social.  But  for  the  aggressions  in- 
volved in  making  effective  policies  based  upon  the  "Mercan- 
tile System,"  as  exemplified  by  "Protection,"  and  belief  in  its 
verity,  wars  between  nations  would  have  ceased  long  ago.  The 
alleged  principle  of  "Protection"  affords  justification  for  pre- 
datory impulse  and  activity,  and  in  consequence  constitutes  the 
chief  influence  that  keeps  the  war-spirit  alive  in  the  midst  of 
industrial  activity  and  operates  to  induce  people  to  acquiesce 
while  administrative  agencies  seize  upon  and  devote  so  great  a 
part  of  industry's  product  to  the  up-keep  of  great  military 
establishments  and  a  pursuit  of  war. 

About  two-thirds  of  the  disbursements  from  the  United 
States  Treasury  is  for  war  purposes.  Indeed,  it  is  said  that 
seventy  per  cent  of  expenditure  is  for  maintenance  of  the  mili- 
tary establishment  and  its  relatives.  In  contrast  it  may  be  noted 
that  two  per  cent  is  being  spent  for  development  of  Agriculture ! 
In  the  presence  of  military  aggression,  tariff  aggression,  general 
pillage  and  popular  spoliation;  and  the  wide  disparity  of  in- 
dividual fortune  due  to  predatory  activities,  the  people  are 
soothed  and  lulled  into  acquiescence  by  priests  who  tell  them 
it  is  God's  will  that  things  should  so  be;  and  by  statesmen  (?) 
who  instruct  the  popular  intelligence  that  "taxation  is  a  means 
for  distribution  of  wealth." 

The  Engineer,  Colonel  Goethals,  under  whose  supervision 
and  direction  the  Panama  canal  is  being  built,  is  reported  to 
have  said  the  enterprise  was  undertaken,  and  is  being  carried 
forward  to  completion,  by  the  United  States,  "As  a  Military 
Necessity."  No  such  declaration  of  purpose  was  made  by  any- 
body originally.  It  is  when  the  canal  approaches  completion 
that  it  is  declared  that  it  was  considerations  having  to  do  with 
"Military  Necessity"  which  moved  the  men  administering  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  engage  in  its  building.  The 
wish  and  will  of  the  people  was  never  sought  or  asked  in  any 
way  by  administrative  agencies.  When  it  was  before  the  Con- 
gress, however,  how  far  in  its  progress  towards  passage  would 
the  bill  authorizing  construction  of  the  Panama  canal  have  got- 
ten if  it  had  then  been  declared  ,or  even  hinted,  that  upon  its 
completion  an  army  of  at  least  25,000  men  would  be  required 
permanently  as  a  defensive  garrison?  This  is  the  statement 
made  in  the  closing  days  of  1912  by  Colonel  Goethals.  It  was 
at  first  proposed  that  the  canal  zone  be  made  "neutral,"  riot 
that  it  should  be  fortified.  But  it  now  is  made  to  appear  that 
the  proposition  for  neutrality  was  a  subterfuge  wherewith  to 
cloak  and  conceal  actual  intention.  For,  certainly,  the  unanimi- 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  19 

ty  and  vehemence  with  which  all  officers,  from  President  down, 
now  urge  and  insist  that  the  canal  be  fortified  gives  verity  to 
the  declaration  Goethals  is  reported  to  have  made.  But,  what 
is  to  be  said  of  the  equivocal  concealment  of  purpose  on  the  part 
of  "statesmen,"  politicians  and  engineers  having  the  enterprise 
in  mind  and  control,  until  a  time  when  the  work  nears  comple- 
tion? If  the  canal  is  to  be  employed  as  an  agency  and  instru- 
ment of  peaceful  trade  and  commerce  and  not  for  purposes  of 
popular  exploitation,  that  is  to  be  world-wide  in  reach  and 
scope,  no  "Military  Necessity"  for  its  building  can  be  said  to 
exist,  and  the  vehement  insistance  for  its  fortification  has  no 
mi? on  d'  clrc.  What  may  be  looked  for  as  an  effect  of  an  atti- 
tude which  implies  hostility  to  all  the  external  world? 

In  the  presence  of  and  exposed  to  educational  influences 
expressed  through  governmental  policies  habitually  adhered  to 
and  continuously  operative,  whereby  external  peoples  are  viewed 
and  treated  as  natural  enemies,  to  be  aggressed  upon  and  ex- 
ploited, is  it  not  natural  and  to  be  expected  that  within  the  po- 
litical organization  itself,  there  should  grow  into  operative  being 
a  corresponding  development;  that  there  should  arise  Trusts, 
Combinations,  Employers'  Associations,  Trades  Unions,  and  the 
like,  organized  with  a  view  to  predatory  policies  and  devoted  to 
methods  and  schemes  of  popular  spoliation? 

Before  his  appointment  to  office  of  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  Governor  Hughes  was  reported  as  having  said: 
"It  is  needed  to  put  an  end  to  corrupt  alliances  between  busi- 
ness and  politics."  No  mention  of  cause  for  such  alliances  was 
made;  necessity  related  solely  to  wiping  out  an  effect.  The 
proposition  relates  to  regulative  control  of  men;  not  at  all  to 
change  of  organization,  or  the  influences  whereby  men  are  af- 
fected. The  political  organization  being  militant  as  it  is,  there- 
fore unsuited  to  activities  other  than  aggressive  and  predatory ; 
and  "politics"  having  to  do  with  determining  the  policies  of  the 
organization,  it  becomes  in  the  nature  of  things  and  unavoid- 
able, that  "Interests"  should  seek  and  effect  alliances.  A  po- 
litical organization  suited  to  requirements  of  aggression  only, 
and  devoted  to  pillage  ar.d  spoliation  must  share  the  spoils  with 
"Interests"  or  itself  go  out  of  "Business;"  and  of  "Statesmen" 
there  are  none  who  would  consent  that  the  State  should  go  out 
of  "Business." 

When  fact  is  stripped  of  all  pretense  whereby  it  is  hidden 
and  made  to  appear  otherwise,  does  it  not  become  clear:  "That 
there  is  no  politics  In  politics,"  but  that  "it  is  a  great  game," 
in  which  power  is  to  be  won  by  art,  trick  and  subterfuge — and 
these  failing,  by  fraud?  That  it  is  a  "great  game"  whereby 
those  engaged  in  it  seek  power  to  the  end  that  they  may  organ- 
ize and  conduct  "political"  and  "business"  activities  so  they  may 
"legally"  get  something  for  nothing?  When  the  truth  is  noted 
and  properly  weighed  does  it  any  longer  appear  strange  that 


20  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

those  who  make  the  "political  game"  their  profession  and  voca- 
tion should  become  so  intoxicated  with  its  excitement  that  they 
lose  all  sense  of  ethical  and  moral  consideration  and  seek  only 
to  win?  Does  it  seem  strange  that  men  so  engaged  should  at 
last  become  affected  with  honest  belief  that  the  "prosperity" 
of  the  country  and  the  welfare  and  well-being  of  its  people  de- 
pended upon  their  own,  and  their  party's  success  in  gaining 
power;  that  the  end  sought  justified  means,  and  they  should 
engage  in  trick,  artifice,  subterfuge,  all  manner  of  deceit  and 
fradulent  manipulation,  for  purpose  of  effecting  and  controlling 
elections?  That  opportunity  offering,  they  should  even  "count 
out,"  or  "count  in,"  to  gain  desired  results? 

Always  it  is  that  political  discussion  and  activity  is  direct- 
ed towards  determining  who  shall  govern  and  who  shall  be  gov- 
erned; to  the  subordination,  if  not  the  exclusion  of  every  other 
consideration.  It  is  time  that  that  which  determines  the  limit 
of  free  and  spontaneous  activity  on  the  part  of  individuals  re- 
ceived serious  thought  and  attention. 

It  is  said  that  war  has  proved  an  aid  to  the  advancement 
of  civilization.  On  the  contrary  such  progress  as  has  been  made 
in  intellectual  growth,  the  growth  and  development  of  ethical 
and  moral  concepts,  and  the  civilizing  refinements  that  have 
come  into  being,  has  been  in  spite  of  influences  born  of  war, 
and  not  at  all  because  of  them.  Intellectual  growth,  ethical 
principles  and  moral  ideas  received  original  exciting  impetus 
from  influences  born  of  trade  and  commerce.  When  men  began 
to  exchange  economic  quantities,  they  began  to  exchange  views 
and  ideas,  and  out  of  these  beginnings  grew  the  culture  that 
made  subsequent  civilization  possible.  The  testimonies  of  the 
past  show  that  people  after  having  made  considerable  advances 
towards  civilization  have  often  become  rebarbarized  by  war. 
That  which  appeals  to  and  excites  the  brute  in  man  does  not 
civilize;  it  is  the  refinements  of  peace  that  soften,  refine  and 
exalt  human  nature  and  not  the  bloodthirst  and  cruelty  of  war! 
Agriculture  has  reached  its  highest  general  development  in 
America.  The  impetus  which  led  to  present  states  of  develop- 
ment was  gained  during  the  infancy  and  youth  of  the  nation, 
and  before  its  taxing  power  was  employed  to  raise  immense 
revenues  in  support  of  a  vast  military  establishment  and  to  fur- 
ther purposes  of  national  aggrandizement.  But  now  the  nation 
has  become  a  great  "World  Power,"  and  its  taxing  power  takes, 
directly  and  indirectly,  one-half  the  earnings  of  the  people  and 
dissipates  them  in  promotion  of  militancy  abroad,  and  "preda- 
tory business"  at  home;  the  boys  who  were  born  and  reared  on 
the  farm  are  turning  away  from  agriculture  and  the  girls  are 
following  them  to  the  cities.  The  deadly  blight  of  military  ab- 
solutism is  being  felt  in  America  in  ways  that  correspond  to 
what  has  long  been  experienced  in  Europe.  With  the  develop- 
ment of  militancy  and  the  splendors  of  a  plutocracy  born  of  it, 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  21 

the  old  contempt  for  agriculture  is  being  revived,  everywhere 
the  rural  population  remains  stationary,  or  is  diminishing.  Iowa, 
with  a  soil  unsurpassed  in  fertility  by  any  in  the  world,  during 
the  ten-year  period  between  1900  and  1910  showed  a  marked 
decrease  of  rural  population.  The  peace  of  the  farm  is  too  un- 
eventful; the  poison  of  the  war  spirit  fills  young  men's  minds 
with  desire  for  conquest  and  power  to  dominate  fellowmen,  and 
to  extort  tribute  from  all  mankind.  The  farm  presents  no  op- 
portunity for  exercise  of  the  power  that  goes  with  acquisition 
of  great  wealth;  the  farmer  is  of  the  class  "too  contemptible 
to  fight,"  so  farming  is  becoming  contemptible! 

Purposes  of  aggression  moved  administrative  agencies  to 
employ  taxation  to  the  end  that  certain  lines  of  industry  may  be 
made  exploitivs  by  giving  those  engaged  in  them  power  for 
tribute  over  thsir  fellowmen.  This  power  was  cloaked  and  con- 
cealed under  the  euphemism  of  "Protection."  Everywhere  and 
always  taxation  is  indissoluably  associated  with  aggression. 
Stripped  of  verbiage,  reduced  to  bare  fact,  the  basis  of  taxation 
is  kingly  prerogative;  sheer  arbitrary  power — the  Imperium. 
Since  "Protection"  became  the  avowed  policy  of  the  United 
States  the  accumulation  of  gigantic  fortunes  in  individual  hands 
has  proceeded  with  amazing  rapidity.  Industrial  maladjust- 
ment, wide  disparity  of  individual  fortune,  with  concomitant 
splendors  of  enormous  wealth  in  individual  hands,  are  presented 
in  ways  which  excite  the  envy  and  cupidity  of  the  thoughtless, 
and  provoke  grave  inquiry  and  alarm  among  intelligent  and 
thoughtful. 

All  members  of  society  are  not  equally  capable  of  noting 
causes  and  reasoning  from  them  to  their  effects ;  and  those  most 
intelligent  are  frequently  moved  by  feeling  instead  of  judgment. 
Millions  who  toil,  do  not  reason  at  all;  they  have  no  time;  they 
only  feel.  In  the  Press  and  Magazines  much  is  being  written; 
and  from  the  pulpit  and  rostrum  much  is  being  said  about  "un- 
scrupulous financiers"  and  the  managing  heads  of  great  trad- 
ing and  manufacturing  combinations  by  way  of  criticism  and 
denunciation.  Almost  without  exception  what  is  being  writ- 
ten and  said  carries  the  implication  that  the  evil  practices  of 
those  criticized  and  denounced  are  due  to  inherent  qualities  of 
depravity  in  human  nature.  The  fact  that  the  activities  of  men 
who  are  engaged  in  piling  up  "swollen  fortunes"  are  directly 
excited,  gene-rally  actually  authorized,  by  the  State  is  ignored 
or  designedly  concealed.  As  a  result  there  is  a  belief  among  the 
masses,  which  is  daily  becoming  more  and  more  general  and 
deeply  confirmed,  that  the  wealth  of  the  rich,  in  some  unjust 
way,  has  been  taken  by  its  possessors  themselves  from  the  hard- 
earned  and  rightful  belongings  of  those  who  work  and  remain 
poor.  The  poor  think  they  have  been  robbed,  directly  and  design- 
edly by  the  rich,  so  they  view  the  rich  with  feelings  if  distrust, 
if  not  with  enmity  and  hatred. 


22  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

Will  people  who  are  intelligent  assert  that  no  cause  for 
suspicion  exists;  that  there  is  nothing  to  justify  the  feelings 
of  those  whose  lot  it  is  to  be  compelled  to  take  their  place  among 
wage-workers  who  are  to  always  remain  propertyless  ?  How  is 
it  that  in  the  presence  of  inexhaustible  resource — in  the  pres- 
ence of  abundance  for  all,  so  many  work  hard  and  remain  all 
their  lives  propertyless  and  destitute  ? 

It  is  not  for  lack  of  self-supporting  capacity  in  fair  fields; 
it  is  not  because  of  improvidence  or  "criminal"  instincts  and 
tendencies ;  it  is  not  because  of  indisposition  to  work  or  idleness, 
that  many  are  unable  to  gain  an  honest  livelihood.  Everybody 
has  capacity  and  willingness  to  do  something;  and  even  among 
the  alleged  criminals,  none  are  to  be  found  who  do  not  wish  for 
that  which  would  be  "fair  and  right"  for  all.  Few  are  to  be 
found  anywhere  who  are  not  animated  by  desire  to  act  in  capa- 
city of  "brother's  keeper;"  to  so  rule  him  that  he  will  do  jus- 
tice; to  so  safeguard  him  that  he  will  receive  justice.  In  the 
presence  of  universal  goodness  of  intention,  earnestness  of  de- 
sire and  purpose  to  do,  and  see  that  justice  is  done,  how  are  the 
wickedly  inhuman,  terribly  unjust  and  inequitable  relations  and 
conditions  of  the  existing  order  to  be  accounted  for?  Is  it  that 
all  men  are  liars  and  cheats?  That  all  expressions  of  desire  for 
equitable  conditions,  and  purpose  of  obtainment  is  sheer  pre- 
tense? Surely  not  that. 

Is  it  not  true,  rather,  that  some  constantly  operating  exter- 
nal influence  so  affects  every  member  of  society  that  they  are  ir- 
resistibly, but  unconsciously,  driven  to  engage  in  conduct  in- 
consistent, and  in  direct  conflict,  with  inherent  desire  and  pur- 
pose? Over  and  over  again  in  presence  of  some  accident  where- 
by the  authority  of  political  government  has  been  suddenly 
abrogated  or  nullified,  it  has  been  shown  that  all  thus  affected, 
irrespective  of  race,  nationality  or  previous  educational  training, 
become  at  once  both  amiable  and  decent.  Under  such  condi- 
tions a  spirit  of  mutual  respect  and  confidence  is  manifested ;  the 
spirit  of  brotherly  love  prevails,  and  all  engage  in  co-operative 
effort  for  the  mutual  and  reciprocal  good  of  all.  Nobody  stops 
to  ask  in  what,  or  how  much  they  are  to  be  paid.  Everywhere 
and  always,  it  is  only  in  presence  and  under  influences  which  de- 
scend upon  them  from  political  government  that  mankind  en- 
gage in  frenzied  effort  for  obtainment  of  unfair  and  throat- 
cutting  advantage  over  one  another.  It  is  only  under  con- 
ditions of  so-called  "law  and  order"  that  the  disorder  of  anti- 
social practices  maintain.  With  the  "king-thing"  dethroned, 
and  its  arbitrary  authority  swept  away,  it  is  invariable  that 
the  order  of  amity  and  fair-dealing  prevails. 

That  which  is  true  is  made  true  and  accepted  as  being  true, 
because  of  testimony  presented  in  unvarying  uniformity.  If  from 
certain  antecedent  conditions  certain  results  invariably  proceed 
they  become  connectedly  associated  as  antecedent  and  conse- 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  23 

tjuent;  and  by  the  intelligent  are  recognized  and  accepted  as 
cause  and  effect.  There  is  no  other  way.  The  sole  avenue  open 
for  distinguishing  truth  and  separating  it  from  error  consists  in 
that  uniformly  presented  by  the  testimonies  of  experience;  no 
truth  has  been  discovered  by  any  other  process  or  through  any 
other  channel.  Now,  inasmuch,  as  invariable  experience  has 
shown  that  in  absence  of  arbitrary  authoritative  compulsion 
from  political  government,  people  become  kindly  and  gently 
disposed  towards  one  another;  that  instead  of  being  brutal  and 
inconsiderate  they  are  humane  and  considerate,  is  it  not  reason- 
able that  truth  resides  in  the  inference  that  it  is  influences  which 
descend  upon  them  from  political  government  that  affect  peo- 
ple so  that  they  become  anti-social  in  their  behavior?  Nay  more. 
Is  it  not  to  be  accepted  beyond  all  dubitation  that  freedom  is  the 
mother  of  order?  And  in  the  absence  of  political  government 
disorder  born  of  compulsion  will  disappear  ? 

The  nature  of  things  has  placed  a  limit  upon  human  under- 
standing which  makes  it  impossible  that  anyone  should  know 
the  requirements  of  another;  or  what  their  requirements  may 
become.  Consequently  it  is  impossible  that  anyone  should  know 
what  would  be  fair,  right  and  just  for  another.  No  one  knows 
what  is  required  for  the  best  good  of  self.  The  limit  of 
understanding  relates  to  self -requirement ;  so  the  true  and 
only  safe  guide  for  regulation  of  conduct  is  purely  egoistic  in 
connotation  and  bearing,  and  consists  in  habitual  avoidance  of 
doing  to  another  anything  which  would  offend  if  done  to  self. 
No  one  knows  or  can  know  of  what  justice  consists,  but  a  fairly 
good  idea  of  what  would  be  injurious  and  therefore  unjust  to 
self,  is  in  the  minds  of  all;  so  whatever  of  truth  there  is  to  be 
found  for  proper  moral  and  ethical  guidance  lies  in  the  direction 
of  examining  the  effect  of  things  upon  self,  and  not  at  all  in  the 
direction  of  guidance  by  external  authority. 

That  it  is  not  the  restraints  put  upon  people  by  constituted 
authority  which  hold  and  keep  them  in  order  is  abundantly 
shown  by  testimony  presented  by  various  peoples  of  Earth.  The 
American  Indian  affords  striking  illustrations.  They  go  to  war — 
rarely,  they  commit  murder,  because  they  believe  in  blood  atone- 
ment for  personal  injury.  Claims  to  property  receive  universal 
recognition  and  respect.  Liars  and  cheats  are  unknown ;  and  the 
thief  is  practically  non-existent.  No  licentiousness;  and  except 
those  recently  made  so  by  white  men,  as  in  Alaska,  no  prosti- 
tutes. Mo  jails  or  arbitrary  restraints  of  any  kind.  Among  the 
Creeks  and  Choctaws,  those  tried  and  condemned  to  death  for 
murder  are  permitted  to  remain  at  large,  to  come  and  go  at 
will,  until  day  for  execution  arrives,  when  the  condemned  un- 
failingly appear  and  pay  the  penalty.  Are  people  with  white 
complexions  less  capable  or  less  willing  than  untutored  red  men 
to  recognize  and  conform  to  traditional  principles  of  ethics  and 
morals?  Are  they  inferior  in  such  respects,  to  the  Creeks  and 


24  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

Choctaws?  The  testimony  of  experience  proves  the  contrary; 
for  where  confidence  is  shown;  where  men  are  trusted  without 
oath  or  other  formality,  implying  they  are  not  to  be  trusted, 
cases  in  which  confidence  and  trust  is  violated  are  exceptionally 
rare.  Even  those  who  are  called  criminals,  who  are  released 
and  given  restricted  liberty  from  penal  institutions,  under  con- 
ditions which  imply  so  much  of  distrust  as  to  be  calculated  to 
excite  feelings  of  shame,  humiliation  and  resentment,  if  not  of 
anger,  violations  of  "parole"  are  so  infrequent  that  they  rare- 
ly run  into  percentages  expressed  in  double  figures.  In  the 
absence  of  compulsory  measures  and  questioning  restraints 
people  everywhere  and  at  all  times,  with  most  rare  exception, 
refrain  from  aggressive  acts  and  do  as  they  agree. 

That  which  pleases,  or  offends  self,  at  once  and  unmistak- 
ably, appeals  to  the  understanding;  so  it  is  in  the  nature  ol 
things  that  the  only  genuine  and  intelligible  guide  to  such  gen- 
eral conditions  of  fairness  and  justice  as  are  humanly  attain- 
able reside  in  that  which  affects  each  individual  pleasurably 
or  painfully.  However,  the  pains  and  miseries  born  of  the  de- 
forming and  destroying  effects  of  arbitrary  measures  employed 
by  "constructive  statesmen"  obsessed  with  high  ideals  and  ani- 
mated with  humanitarian  impulses  will  have  to  be  borne  until 
such  time  as  those  who  have  grown  intelligently  selfish  are 
become  sufficiently  numerous  and  influential  to  cause  a  falling 
off  in  demand  for  the  follies  and  futilities  embodied  in  "con- 
structive legislation."  Ideals  affecting  other's  good;  unrelated 
to  genuine  and  untrammeled  expressions  of  human  nature; 
born,  simply,  of  notions  as  to  what  "ought  to  be,"  are  intensely 
stimulating  and  most  satisfying  to  would-be  governors.  They 
constitute  a  most  agreeable  resource  for  the  spirit  of  dominion 
whereby  all  would-be  kings  and  governors  are  animated;  every 
phase  of  despotism  and  tyranny  may  be  justified  thereby. 

It  will  be  a  long  time  before  "constructive  statesmen"  cease 
to  obstruct  by  going  out  of  business,  for  the  course  of  general 
thought  is  still  under  guide  and  control  of  those  who  adhere  to 
the  "intuitive"  school  of  philosophy.  It  is  assumed  that  Man 
came  into  his  present  state  of  being  as  a  creation,  and  not  as 
a  subject  of  developmental  growth.  Hence  man's  moral  nature 
is  "innate;"  moral  concepts  are  born  of  "intuition"  and  not  of 
any  originating  impulse  growing  out  of  sensuous  experience. 
Everything  is  attributed  to  and  explained  by  spiritual  agency. 
Imagination  being  untrammeled  in  its  flight  by  no  opposing 
disagreeable  fact  all  explanations  are  affected  with  mysticism 
and  ecstacy.  In  every  field  except  Statecraft  and  Priestcraft  all 
thought  rests  upon  materialistic  basis.  In  all  other  fields  the 
mechanistic  theory  of  origins  and  mechanistic  explanations  of 
being  have  gained  supremacy.  "Statesmen,"  and  priests  alone 
refuse  to  accept  or  contemplate  facts  which  cannot  be  distorted 
and  twisted  into  justifying  accord  with  belief.  They  believe 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  25 

first  and  seek  to  prove  afterwards.  But  the  law  of  continuity 
from  the  past  suggests  with  the  force  of  verity  that  the  mechan- 
istic theory  of  origins  and  mechanistic  explanations  of  being  will 
triumph  in  the  political  field;  and  finally,  even  in  that  which  is 
now  devoted  to  theology.  "Statesmen"  accept  for  their  rule  and 
guide  the  notion  there  is  an  Imperative  Rule  of  Right,  of  which 
Man  has  "intuitive"  cognition;  but  on  account  of  "innate"  ten- 
dencies no  heed  will  be  given  these  "intuitive"  admonitions  in 
an  absence  of  means  and  measures  for  compelling  observance 
and  conformity.  Hence  the  necessity  for  political  absolutism — 
government.  Also,  the  necessity  and  justification  for  war;  for 
against  people  who  neglect  or  refuse  to  observe  and  conform  to 
a  Rule  of  Right  which  is  Imperative,  War  becomes  not  only  just- 
ifiable, but  a  moral  necessity! 

The  validity  of  assumptions  concerning  origins  of  ethical 
concepts  and  moral  ideas  need  not  here  be  inquired  into;  only 
the  validity  of  the  ideas  themselves.  The  test  of  goodness  or 
badness  of  anything  consists  in  examining  and  weighing  its 
fruit;  that  which  is  good  bears  good  fruit.  Because  of  in- 
fluences born  of  militancy  trade  and  commerce  have  become 
spoliative  in  tendency.  That  which  is  called  "business"  con- 
sists in  so  organizing  and  conducting  its  activities  that  some- 
thing for  nothing  may  be  obtained.  Business  does  not  consist 
in  exchanging  equivalent  services  in  the  form  of  economic 
quantities,  but  in  getting  "all  the  traffic  will  bear;"  the  more 
obtained  the  better  the  "business" — the  greater  the  fortune 
thus  gained  the  more  highly  esteemed  are  those  who  conduct  the 
"business."  It  is  not  that  trade  is  reciprocal,  but  is  of  the  na- 
ture ascribed  to  it  in  the  theory  of  the  "Mercantile  System."  In 
practice  the  conduct  of  "business"  is  along  the  line  expressed 
by  the  notion  that  only  one  party  to  an  exchange  can  be  bene- 
fited; the  other  must  suffer  injury.  A  rule  of  procedure  con- 
sistent only  with  aggressive  activity;  that  is,  hostility  and  war. 
It  is  because  of  influences  born  of  and  associated  with  such  no- 
tions that  it  is  everywhere  assumed  as  an  economic  truth,  that 
in  exchange  of  economic  quantities  there  should  always  remain, 
with  one  party  to  the  exchange,  a  surplus  value — an  agio,  which 
is  to  be  viewed  and  accepted  as  legitimate  spoil — a  spoil  the  na- 
ture of  which  is  softened  and  concealed  under  the  euphemism  of 
"PROFIT." 

Every  service  performed  should  be  requited  with  an  equiva- 
lent, but  why  more?  Why  should  there  be  any  surplus  value 
remaining  in  the  hands  of  anyone  ?  Is  there  in  ethics  or  morals 
any  principle  whereby  "Profit"  may  be  justified?  Everyone  is 
entitled  to  receive  equivalent  return  for  services  performed; 
that  is,  to  receive  whatever  may  have  been  earned.  Is  there 
anyone  who  is  intelligent  and  candid  who  is  prepared  to  say  that 
some  are  entitled  to  receive  more  than  is  earned,  and  thereby 
oblige  another,  or  others,  to  receive  less?  If  so,  it  is  incumbent 


26  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

on  them  to  prove  validity  and  justify  "Profit,"  something  that 
no  one  has  yet  done. 

The  State  has  adopted  and  habitually  employs  methods  of 
taxation  which  affect  industrial  activity  so  that  some  are  en- 
abled to  acquire  exhorbitant  "profits,"  because  many  are  thereby 
subjected  to  unfair  discrimination  and  thus  made  to  carry  an  un- 
due share  of  social  burden.  To  see  that  taxation,  in  its  effects, 
rests  with  disproportionate  weight  upon  those  least  able  to  bear 
it  under  existing  arrangements,  needs  no  acute  power  of  dis- 
cernment, or  extensive  inquiry. 

Existing  arrangements  are  not  only  unjust,  but  they  are 
inexpedient;  for  when  the  one  time  unsuspecting,  but  now  sus- 
picious, toilers  find  out,  as  they  surely  will,  that  all  devices 
wherein  it  has  been  pretended  that  the  burden  of  sustaining  the 
politico-social  organization  was  being  shifted  off  them,  onto 
some  one  else,  have  always  been,  still  remain,  and  must  remain, 
mere  shams;  that  these  devices  have  not  only  never  been  what 
was  alleged ;  have  never  and  can  never  produce  promised  effects, 
but  for  every  indirection  whereby  the  burden  of  taxation  was 
said  to  have  been  removed  from  "labor,"  it  has  come  back  in 
some  way  concealed,  always  with  an  overcharge,  and  instead 
of  taxation  ever  having  been  placed  upon  some  one  else,  it  has 
rested  with  crushing  weight  upon  them  all  the  time;  and  with 
more  intensity  than  if  it  had  been  directly  so  placed  at  first — 
when  the  awakening  comes  what  will  happen?  When  it  is  found 
the  "cause  of  high  cost  of  living"  resides  in  taxation,  and  nowhere 
else,  what  will  the  long  and  much  wronged  workers  do;  the 
people  whose  acts  are  mostly  directed  and  controlled  by  feeling; 
and  whose  ideas  of  redress  and  justice,  in  common  with  those 
expressed  by  constituted  authority  itself,  is  retaliation?  Is  it 
not  probable  that  Life  Insurance  Companies  having  rich  men 
for  risks  will  feel  impelled  to  go  out  of  business  the  first  day 
after  these  people  wake  up  ?  In  view  of  what  may  and  probably 
will  happen,  would  it  not  be  better  if  administrative  agencies  of 
government  dealt  fairly  and  honestly  with  all?  That  instead 
of  any  part  of  revenue  being  taken  by  stealth,  and  unawares, 
every  one  should  be  directly  dealt  with  and  honestly  affected? 

Under  existing  arrangements  taxes  are  laid  in  accordance 
with  the  theory  of  benefit  conferred  by  government,  and  re- 
ceived by  the  individual;  in  accordance  with  the  doctrine  that 
those  should  be  made  to  pay  who  are  best  able;  in  accordance 
with  the  doctrine  of  equal  sacrifice;  in  accordance  with  theories 
of  progression,  of  succession,  of  graduation,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  dogmas  of  "Protection."  They  are  laid  upon  this,  that, 
here,  there,  and  everywhere,  but  never  in  harmony  with  re- 
quirement of  justice.  It  is  said  that  taxes  are  inevitable!  And 
so  they  will  be,  and  remain  confiscatory  and  destructive  as 
long  as  people  submit  to  the  militancy  of  Imperial  Power! 

Taxes  inevitable!     Aye!     But  why?  and  what  for?       Are 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  27 

taxes  more  inevitable  than  food,  raiment  and  shelter?  Is  it  the 
purpose  of  human  life  to  pay  taxes?  Do  people  live  solely  that 
they  may  contribute  their  lives  and  energies  to  support  political 
government?  Is  the  exaction  of  tax-payment  the  aim  and  end 
of  co-operative  political  association?  Or  is  it  an  incident?  Is 
government  an  end?  Are  people  to  be  considered  only  as  slaves 
of  the  organization  ?  Or  is  the  organization,  when  properly  con- 
sidered, an  agency,  employed  by  people,  as  a  means  for  ac- 
complishment of  desired  social  ends? 

It  is  asserted  by  apologists  for  the  existing  order,  that  po- 
litical complexity  and  comprehensiveness  necessarily  increase 
with  advance  of  civilization;  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  de- 
mand for  public  revenues  must  enlarge  as  government  becomes 
complex  and  comprehensive.  But  will  the  defenders  of  Im- 
perialism say  that  necessity  for  regulative  restraint  of  people 
increases  and  multiplies  as  they  rise  in  intellectual  and  moral 
development?  Will  they  say  that  proportionately  as  people 
cease  to  be  barbarous  and  rude,  become  gentle  and  refined,  the 
mechanism  and  appliances  for  forcibly  keeping  them  in  order 
must  be  strengthened,  broadened  and  multiplied  ?  Will  they  say, 
as  people  advance  in  intellectual  and  moral  development  they 
become  more  and  more  aggressive,  less  and  less  capable  of 
discerning,  recognizing  and  conforming  to  peaceful  customs, 
usages  and  amicable  dealings  with  each  other?  Is  it  not  true, 
rather,  that  all  these  claims  for  necessity  of  enlargement  and 
increase  of  government,  in  its  power,  scope  and  comprehensive- 
ness, is  sheer  hypocritical  subterfuge  whereby  actual  reasons 
and  purposes  are  cloaked  and  concealed?  Is  it  not  true  that 
those  who  wield  and  exercise  authority  are  ever  cowardly  and 
dare  not  openly  avow  purpose?  Is  it  not  true  that  the  real  rea- 
son for  political  government,  and  all  that  relates  to  regulative 
control  of  people  by  physical  force,  resides  in  love  of  dominion 
and  lust  for  power  that  has  grown  and  developed  in  the  minds 
of  men  because  of  association  with  influences  born  of  war  and 
warlike  activities;  influences  operative  continuously,  extending 
back  in  origin  through  all  the  ages  of  the  past  until  their  effects 
have  become  incorporated  in  the  human  make-up  as  an  inherent 
and  predisposing  heritage?  What  is  the  testimony  of  experi- 
ence? Does  not  the  testimony  of  the  past  show  beyond  dubita- 
tion  that  once  man  is  invested  with  authority,  invariably  and 
inevitably,  he  seeks  to  broaden  and  extend  the  reach  of  author- 
itative jurisdiction?  Is  it  not  a  maxim,  among  the  judiciary, 
that  a  good  Judge  ever  seeks  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  his  juris- 
diction? Are  men  who  act  as  Judges  different  from  others  in 
personal  attribute  and  desire? 

Taxes  are  inevitable!  But  is  it  also  inevitable  that  power 
of  taxation  shall  be  so  employed  that  in  effect  it  will  mark  off 
invidious  and  unjust  discriminations  and  distinctions?  Dis- 
criminations and  distinctions  which  excite  ever  increasing  ani- 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

mosities  among  those  affected,  finally  separating  and  arraying 
them  into  distrusting  antagonistic  groups;  the  members  of 
each  group  so  stirred  with  bitterness  of  feeling  that  they  face 
each  other  in  warlike  attitude  and  with  angry  threat? 

If  organized  government  can  be  justified;  if  there  is  ethical 
warrant  for  existence  of  the  State,  there  must  be  a  just  way 
whereby  the  revenue  for  its  sustentation  may  be  raised.  The 
unwillingness  to  pay  that  people  have  always  shown  in  connec- 
tion with  taxation,  and  their  resistance  to  it,  has  been  and  now 
is,  due  to  the  fact  that  no  fair  and  honest  way  has  ever  been 
proposed,  much  less  tried.  If  there  is  a  science  of  political  org- 
anization, there  must  be  a  scientific  and  just  way  whereby  funds 
for  up-keep  of  political  organization  may  be  obtained.  What- 
ever of  difference  subsists  between  the  preachments  of  the  mis- 
ruling politicians  and  misguiding  priests  of  today,  from  those 
who  misruled  and  misguided  during  all  the  ages  of  the  past  prac- 
tice still  proceeds  upon  the  hypothesis  that  the  earnings  of  fools 
by  Divine  Right  is  the  patrimony  of  clever  men. 

Notwithstanding  practices  to  the  contrary,  which  have  pre- 
vailed during  all  historic  time,  Politics  rightly  viewed  and  con- 
sidered, is  the  science  of  organizing  people  into  co-operatively  as- 
sociated groups  in  accord  with  right  ethical  lines  and  true  ethi- 
cal principles.  A  scientific  organization  of  society  cannot  b? 
arbitrarily  effected.  It  cannot  be  accomplished  as  a  subject  of 
manufacture;  it  only  remains  to  leave  people  so  unaffected  and 
unobstructed  by  arbitrary  limitations  that  their  relations  may 
grow  right;  and  in  that  way  gain  as  nearly  as  the  nature  of 
human  nature  will  permit  as  close  on  approach  as  possible  to 
scientific  organization.  Any  organization  of  society  whatsoever 
involves  obtainment  of  requisite  funds  from  its  members  for 
continuous  sustentation.  In  the  nature  of  things  public  income, 
or  revenue,  must  be  drawn  from  the  wealth  of  society.  The 
wealth  of  society  is  the  sum  total  of  economic  quantities  that 
come  into  existence  in  response  to  a  demand  arising  from  the 
desires  and  wants  of  the  people  who  compose  it.  Taxation, 
therefore,  either  in  form  of  compulsory  exaction  or  voluntary 
contribution,  must  rest  as  a  privation  upon  all  who  are  affected ; 
and  if  the  burden  of  privation  is  to  be  fairly  distributed  the 
amount  of  tax,  or  contribution,  must  be  measured  and  fixed 
proportionate  to  the  value  of  some  instrument  universally  em- 
ployed in  satisfying  the  desires  and  wants  of  each  individual 
member  of  the  organization. 

Under  conditions  in  which  people  were  freed  from  all  in- 
hibitions imposed  by  political  government  satisfaction  of  in- 
dividual desires  and  wants  would  be  attended  only  by  evils  in- 
cident to  free  and  open  competition;  the  cure  for  such  evils 
must  be  left  to  be  worked  out  and  solved  by  the  mutations  of 
time.  The  State  not  only  cannot  do  everything,  but  it  is  pos- 
sible for  it  to  do  but  very  little;  it  is  impossible  even,  that  it 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  29 

should  defend  people  against  aggression.  But  it  is  possible  for 
the  political  organization  itself  to  be  kept  from  attempts  to  en- 
force compliance  with  arrangements  in  aid  of  aggression.  In 
arbitrary  limitations  imposed  by  the  State — limitations  that  re- 
strict non-invasive  activities,  thereby  defeating  natural  expres- 
sions of  human  endeavor,  resides  ,the  cause  of  friction,  irritation, 
and  antagonisms  shown  in  warring  industrial  strifes,  every- 
where presented  in  this  country,  and  the  world.  The  State  by 
making  necessity  for  revenue  an  excuse  and  opportunity  for  af- 
fording special  interests  a  chance  to  obtain  undue  and  unfair 
advantage,  constantly  foments  strife  by  increasing  aggression, 
instead  of  defending  people  from  it. 

As  a  result,  everywhere  in  this  country  and  the  world, 
there  are  ever  increasing  manisfestations  of  social  discontent, 
unrest  and  turbulency.  All  see  and  all  feel  the  evils  from  which 
they  suffer,  but  few  have  powers  of  penetration  adequate  to 
discovery  of  the  source  from  which  they  arise  and  flow,  and  to 
distinguish  their  true  character.  Those  who  are  hurt  most  are 
least  capable  of  engaging  in  discriminating  examination  and 
analysis  of  underlying  forces  relating  to  source  and  character 
of  the  evils  which  descend  upon  them  with  such  crushing  and 
destructive  impact.  They  do  not  know  that  they  are  being  used 
by  those  who  conduct  and  administer  political  agencies,  merely 
as  tools  whereby  the  machinery  of  the  State  is  kept  running, 
and  that  it  is  the  weight  of  the  State  that  bears  down  upon 
them  with  such  inexorable  and  killing  severity.  Because  of 
ignorance,  and  cupidity  born  of  it,  the  masses  continue  to  listen 
to  demagogic  appeal  and  promise,  to  vote  as  directed,  and  find 
vent  for  bitterness  of  feeling  in  fierce  denunciation  of  Trusts  and 
Monopolies,  and  expressions  of  hatred  for  the  Rich;  that  is, 
against  effects  of  the  State,  instead  of  the  real  cause,  the  State 
itself. 

It  needs  no  prophetic  vision  to  penetrate  and  interpret  the 
future  to  enable  a  foretelling  that  it  will  not  be  possible  for 
political  agencies  to  go  much  further,  or  to  much  longer  persist 
in  methods  which  are  now  being  employed  before  the  existing 
order  will  be  disturbed  and  shaken  by  outbreaks  of  physical 
violence,  ever  increasing  in  volume  and  intensity;  until  at  last, 
there  shall  come  a  tremendous,  uncontrollable  upheaval,  like  the 
French  Revolution,  which  will  sweep  all  before  it  and  deluge 
the  land  with  blood. 

To  so  employ  the  taxing  power  as  to  wring  from  the  people 
the  largest  possible  part  of  results  of  their  industry  and  to 
distribute  the  immense  booty  thus  seized,  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  operation  can  be  repeated  annually  forever,  presents  a  prob- 
lem requiring  Machiavellian  ability  and  art  for  its  solution.  To 
keep  the  political  machinery  running  whereby  people  are  con- 
tinuously robbed,  there  must  not  only  be  concealment  of  method, 
but  a  great  number  of  citizens  who  are  intelligent,  but  made 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

unscrupulous,  must  be  sufficiently  bribed  to  induce  them  to  aid, 
or  remain  quiet,  while  the  despicable  work  goes  on;  and  the 
cupidity  of  the  less  intelligent  must  be  excited  sufficiently  to 
make  them  feel  and  believe  that  they  too,  are  made,  or  are 
about  to  be  made,  beneficiaries.  No  careful  and  intelligent  ob- 
server, who  is  candid,  will  deny  that  most  of  the  expenditures 
for  what  are  called  public  improvements;  all  the  legislation  "in 
the  interest  of  Labor;"  and  much  else,  are  bribes,  offered  by 
those  who  control  administrative  agencies,  to  voting  constituen- 
cies. 

In  this  way  voters,  in  ever  increasing  numbers,  are  con- 
tinuously impressed  with  the  notion  that  political  government, 
instead  of  being  an  instrumentality  the  purpose  of  which  is  to 
safeguard,  and  to  secure  to  individuals  a  certainty  of  holding 
and  enjoying  unmolested  the  results  of  self -exertion ;  and  to 
maintain  just  relations  among  men,  is  a  means  whereby  the 
clever,  who  "vote  right,"  are  enabled,  under  legal  forms,  to  ob- 
tain and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  other's  toil.  These  influences,  oper- 
ating generation  after  generation,  have  produced  moral  lesions 
which  have  become  general — lesions  which  may  be  properly 
held  responsible  for  the  official  corruption  and  bribery  which 
prevails  in  every  walk  of  public  life. 

With  taxation  so  laid  that  its  incidence  would  be  fairly  and 
justly  distributed  by  a  just  system;  the  moneys  paid  into  public 
treasuries  in  the  form  of  taxes,  would  represent  to  the  payer 
the  price  of  all  the  benefits  derived  from  living  in  society ;  simply 
an  essential  and  necessary  part  of  the  cost  of  living.  The  gross 
injustice,  the  morally  corrupting  and  degrading  influences  of 
present  arrangements  is  apparent  to  the  commonest  intelligence. 
So  monstrous,  so  cruel  are  the  effects  of  existing  methods  of 
taxation  that  it  would  seem  as  if  every  self-respecting  member 
of  society  must  be  driven  to  ask  for  adoption  of  equitable 
method ;  and  failing  in  this,  to  join  with  others  in  united  refusal 
to  pay  any  taxes  at  all. 

Taxation  falls  upon  the  individuals  who  compose  society 
as  an  enforced  privation;  the  more  taxes  paid  the  greater  the 
privation.  Instruments  used  to  satisfy  desire  and  want  are 
taxed  and  those  who  use  them  are  mad?  to  suffer  disproportion- 
ately because  some  are  enabled  through  operation  of  the  taxing 
power  to  shift  the  burden  of  privation  onto  others.  Those  who 
pay  in  the  first  instance  recoup  themselves  by  passing  it  on  to 
the  next  buyer  of  the  taxed  instrument,  with  an  overcharge  for 
profit,  until  finally  those  are  reached  who  pay  only  in  privation. 
Those  who  fully  recoup  themselves  suffer  nothing  of  privation; 
but  proportionate  to  inability  to  thus  defend  and  protect  them- 
selves privation  becomes  intensified.  Some  suffer  but  small  priva- 
tion, but  as  effect  of  taxation  passes  from  one  to  another  in  its 
descent  through  all  social  ranks  and  conditions  an  ever-increas- 
ing severity  of  privation  is  suffered.  MP.lions  are  borne  down 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  Cl 

to  the  very  bottom  where  submerged  in  depths  of  deepest  pri- 
vation and  misery  they  eke  out  a  miserable  existence  until  in- 
creased susceptibility  to  disease  brings  kindly  death  to  take  them 
away.  Among  these  millions  the  death  rate  is  appalling,  but 
hopelessnes  of  situation  and  bitterness  of  privation  must  often, 
if  not  always,  make  it  appear  that  death  accords  a  blessed  relief. 

It  is  said:  "The  poor  pay  no  taxes;  having  nothing  with 
which  to  pay!"  Unfortunately  many,  if  not  most,  people  be- 
lieve this  to  be  true — at  least  habit  and  action  is  inconsistent 
with  disbelief.  Taxes  are  paid;  and  they  are  paid  out  of 
results  of  productive  industry,  there  is  no  other  possible  source 
from  which  they  can  be  drawn.  People  live  on  the  products  of 
their  labor;  and  no  keenness  of  mental  vision  i\>  required  to  see 
and  determine  that  a  taking  away  of  part  of  labor's  results 
means  that  all  so  affected  will  be  made  thereby  less  able  to  place 
desire  and  want  in  gratified  states;  they  will  suffer  privation 
proportionate  to  amount  taken  away;  some  want  will  remain 
unsatisfied,  some  desire  to  burn  in  vain,  because  means  of  grati- 
fication has  been  taken  away.  Every  cent  of  public  revenue 
raised  subjects  some  one  to  privation  to  that  extent;  and  those 
numbers  of  society  whose  sole  dependence  for  livelihood  con- 
sists in  wages  received,  being  most  defenseless,  suffer  greater 
privation  than  any  other  class.  Much  the  greater  part  of 
moneys  raised  by  taxation  are  devoted  to  purposes  of  war. 

Armies  aro  composed  of  those  who  live  by  labor  of  their 
hands,  and  the  cost  of  maintaining  armies  is  paid  in  privation 
by  the  same  class.  Those  who  live  by  their  wits  neither  fight 
nor  pay.  Thos?  who  employ  wit  in  service  pay  in  privation  the 
same  as  others.  So  it  remains  with  workingmen  themselves  to 
determine  if  there  shall  be  war  and  misery  or  peace  and  happi- 
ness. If  they  will  but  refuse  to  go  forth  as  soldiers,  to  kill  and 
be  killed,  there  will  be  no  more  of  war,  and  no  more  of  incident 
privation  and  misery.  The  workingmen  having  thus  become 
wise  it  can  no  longer  be  said:  "The  earnings  of  fools  by  Divine 
Right  is  the  patrimony  of  clever  men !" 

It  has  been  shown  in  another  chapter  that  one  half  the  an- 
nual earnings  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  forcibly 
taken  from  them  to  support  political  government,  and  the  para- 
sites it  creates.  If  the  sums  which  aggregate  this  enormous 
annual  exaction  were  left  in  the  hands  that  earned  them  they 
would  remain  available  for  use  in  satisfying  individual  wants; 
the  privations  now  suffered  would  not  be  felt ;  in  the  absence  of 
these  privations  almost  everybody  would  become  self-support- 
ing, and  poverty  would  practically  disappear.  Poverty  would 
disappear  because  its  cause  would  bs  recognized  and  made  in- 
operative. It  is  clear  that  an  agency  instrumental  in  filching 
from  people  one-half  their  earnings  must  be  the  cause  for  their 
poverty.  Taxation  is  not  only  the  cause  of  poverty,  but  the 
pinch  of  its  privation  drives  people  to  alcoholic  intemperance,  to 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

crime,  and  all  the  vices  incident  to  poverty;  and  the  cause  will 
remain  operative  until  tax-incidence  becomes  fairly  distributed 
and  felt  by  those  who  are  made  to  pay.  Intelligent  and  adequate 
resistance  to  taxation  can  never  become  effectively  presented 
until  tax-incidence  is  sensibly  felt  by  each  individual  tax-payer! 

So  long  as  methods  of  indirection  and  stealth  are  permit- 
ted, so  long  will  those  who  carry  the  load  remain  poverty-strick- 
en, so  long  will  they  work  and  grovel  through  their  short  and 
miserable  lives,  to  the  end  that  clever  men  may  make  the  earn- 
ings of  fools,  by  Divine  Right,  their  patrimony. 

If  tax  incidence  is  to  become  fairly  and  equitably  distributed, 
the  basis  of  taxation  must  be  some  instrument  of  production 
that  stands  exactly  in  the  same  relation  to  every  desire  and 
want.  In  other  words,  equitable  taxation  remains  impossible 
unless  the  amount  paid  by  each  individual  tax-payer  is  gauged 
and  determined  by  the  value  of  some  economic  quantity  that  is 
actually  in  continuous  and  universal  use  as  an  instrument  of 
production  whereby  each  individual's  desires  and  wa  nts  are 
placed  in  gratified  states.  For  until  some  basis  that  is  uni- 
versally true  and  exact,  in  its  relativity  to  all,  as  a  want-satis- 
fying instrumentality,  is  used  as  a  guide  and  measure  in  ap- 
portioning taxation,  equity  in  distribution  of  incidence  is  im- 
possible of  attainment.  In  another  chapter  it  has  been  shown 
that  there  is  but  one  such  instrument — Land. 

It  is  pretended  that  taxes  are  now  laid  upon  those  who  are 
possessed  with  property,  but  such  is  not  the  case,  nor  is  it  pos- 
sible to  do  any  such  thing.  For  the  things  that  have  value,  and 
are  called  Property  are  merely  instruments  which,  in  the  hands 
of  labor,  minister  to  desire  and  want ;  and  unless  the  instrument 
is  consumed  wholly  by  its  possessor  the  tax  put  upon  it  will 
not  stay  where  originally  placed,  but,  ultimately,  will  be  paid 
by  those  whose  desires  and  wants  are  satisfied  through  its  em- 
ployment as  an  instrumentality.  A  tax  placed  upon  an  economic 
quantity  employed  as  an  instrument  to  produce  an  article  of 
food  necessitates  an  exchange  of  more  of  something  else  before 
that  food  can  be  obtained;  and  who  so  buys  and  eats  the  food 
will  inevitably  bear  the  burden  of  the  tax.  A  tax  placed  upon 
an  economic  quantity  used  as  an  instrument  in  production  of 
articles  of  raiment  will  unfailingly  rest  upon  whosoever  buys 
and  wears  those  articles.  Suppose  a  tax  is  placed  upon  a  stock  of 
groceries,  the  tax  in  the  first  instance  would  be  paid  by  the 
grocery  keeper,  but,  ultimately  it  will  be  paid  by  those  who  buy 
and  consume  the  groceries.  Suppose  a  tax  placed  upon  a  cloth 
mill.  The  owner  will  pay  no  part  of  the  tax  except  the  portion 
represented  by  the  value  of  cloth  devoted  to  personal  use,  and 
consumed  by  self.  It  is  obvious  that  taxes  wherever  originally 
placed  finally  rest  upon  and  are  paid  by  the  person  whose  de- 
sires and  wants  are  satisfied  through  use  of  the  instrument 
taxed.  It  is  in  this  way  that  those  who  are  propertyless  are 


WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY.  33 

made  to  pay  taxes.  A  tax  upon  land  would  be  paid  in  the  first 
instance  by  the  landlord,  but  ultimately  by  those  who  bought 
and  consumed  the  products  of  the  land.  Land  is  not  singular 
to  other  want-satisfying  instrumentalities  in  respect  to  taxation, 
and  ultimate  payment.  The  greater  the  amount  raised  by  tax- 
ation the  higher  prices  are  made,  and  the  greater  popular  priva- 
tion becomes ;  for  privation  consists  in  inability  to  satisfy  want, 
and  in  incompleteness  of  want,  satisfaction. 

Taxes  rest  upon  desire  and  want,  because  the  cause  of  all 
Wealth  springs  from  desire  and  want.  There  is  no  such  thing 
as  absolute  Wealth.  There  is  nothing  which  is  in  its  own  nature 
Wealth ;  for  whether  anything  is  Wealth  or  not  depends  entire- 
ly on  its  being  desired,  wanted  and  demanded.  Wealth  is  pro- 
duced in  various  ways,  but  it  comes  into  economics  solely  in 
response  to  Demand  that  springs  from  human  desire  and  want. 
A  tax  placed  upon  an  economic  quantity  does  not  stay  where 
originally  put,  but  through  exchange  is  shifted  from  one  in- 
dividual to  another  until  the  one  is  reached  whose  desires  and 
wants  are  satisfied  by  consuming  the  product  of  the  thing  taxed, 
or  the  thing  itself. 

If  all  taxes  v/ere  assessed  against  some  economic  quantity 
that  stood  in  like  relation  to  every  individual  member  of  the  po- 
litical organization  as  an  instrumentality  through  the  use  of 
which  all  desires  and  wants  were  placed  in  gratified  states, 
(Land  Parcels),  each  individual  would  pay  a  share  proportioned 
to  the  number  of  desires  and  wants  satisfied,  and  the  degree  of 
satisfaction  in  which  they  were  placed.  As  the  desires  and 
wants  of  mankind  increase  in  number  and  intensity  with  in- 
crease of  ability  to  gratify,  it  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that 
under  an  arrangement  of  that  kind,  those  who  were  strongest 
and  most  capable  would  pay  most,  while  those  who  were  weak 
and  incapable  would  pay  least.  The  requirements  of  justice 
would  be  met;  for  those  who  derived  most  benefit  from  the  col- 
lectivity would  pay  most,  while  those  who  derived  least  would 
pay  least.  Some  economic  writers  have  asserted  that  the  poor 
and  weak  receive  greater  benefit  from  the  State  than  the  rich 
and  strong ;  but  it  is  not  and  cannot  be  true.  Men  endowed  with 
great  capacities  engage  themselves  in  large  undertakings  and 
entensive  activities  and,  a  fortiori,  require  more  and  receive 
greater  benefit  from  the  collectively  organized  all  than  those 
endowed  with  small  and  weak  capacities. 

Distinctions  among  men  are  accidental,  nothing  more.  Those 
who  are  propertyless  under  existing  arrangements  are  made 
so  by  accident  of  the  time  in  which  they  live.  In  point  of  num- 
ber the  Have-Nots  are  in  overwhelming  majority,  but  in  common 
with  the  Haves,  the  Have-Nots  are  animated  with  the  same  be- 
liefs, actuated  by  the  same  motives,  and  seek  like  obtainments. 
It  is  not  that  people  are  prone  to  evil,  or  designedly  do  evil ;  but 
being  constantly  affected  by  influences  which  descend  upon  them 


34  WAR'S    FOLLY    AND    FUTILITY. 

from  a  bad  political  organization;  an  organization  that  has 
grown  into  being  in  response  to  supposititious  needs  born  of  er- 
roneous beliefs,  they  have  become  anti-social.  A  militant  org- 
anization, devoted  to  purposes  of  aggression  and  war,  is  un- 
suited  to  requirements  of  people  engaged  in  co-operative  in- 
dustry and  non-invasive  pursuits  of  peace.  Belief  in  the  virtue 
of  aggression  and  the  efficacy  of  war  for  attainment  of  right 
ends  is  an  inheritance  of  the  past.  Belief  in  the  virtue  and  ne- 
cessity for  compelling  force  is  so  universal  that  nearly  all  are 
thus  affected.  Humanitarians  and  those  devoted  to  obtain- 
ment  of  conditions  of  universal  peace,  deny  their  preachments 
by  invoking  measures  of  compulsion. 

The  existing  order  was  born  of  force,  is  sustained  by  force ; 
it  is  the  apotheosis  of  Force.  It  is  impossible  that  it  should 
be  forcibly  reformed;  made  to  right-about-face  and  stand  for 
peace.  Employment  of  compulsion  can  operate  only  to  confirm 
opinion  as  to  the  validity  of  belief  in  war!  The  injunction  to 
fight  the  devil  with  fire  is  vicious  nonsense.  The  devil  cannot 
be  defeated  with  fire;  he  knows  all  about  fire;  he's  used  to  it. 
And  any  who  are  vain  and  foolish  enough  to  engage  with  his 
Satanic  Majesty  with  fire — his  own  weapon — will  inevitably  suf- 
fer defeat.  Those  who  believe  in  Peace  must  cease  to  advocate 
and  practice  War,  before  there  can  be  Peace. 

That  mankind  should  co-operate  is  in  the  nature  of  things. 
It  is  impossible  that  Man  should  live  either  in  individual  or 
collective  capacity  unless  he  co-operates.  Man  must  co-operate 
or  cease  to  be ;  so  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  that  artificial  measures 
of  compulsion  should  be  employed.  The  forces  of  nature  affect 
people  impartially,  there  are  no  personal  favorites.  Not  be- 
fore, but  as  soon  as  people  become  wise  enough  to  put  aside 
present  beliefs,  and  considerable  numbers  of  them  refuse  longer 
to  recognize  the  authority,  or  engage  themselves  in  the  service 
of  a  State  militantly  organized  ,will  the  dawn  of  Peace  and  con- 
ditions of  social  justice  be  at  hand.  When  the  masses  refuse  to 
bear  arms  or  to  engage  in  any  act  of  an  invasive  or  aggressive 
nature  the  day  of  their  emancipation  will  have  arrived.  So  long 
as  they  cling  to  superstitions  born  of  the  past,  continue  to  vote 
for  aggressive  power,  remain  willing  to  go  forth  as  soldiers  to 
conquer  and  subjugate,  to  kill  and  to  be  killed,  they  will  remain 
enslaved  to  a  militant  despotism,  which  they  themselves  support 
and  maintain.  And  so  long  will  it  remain  true:  The  earnings 
of  fools  by  Divine  Right  is  the  patrimony  of  clever  men. 


A  PROCLAMATION 


'  Whenever  you  have  met  a  dozen  men  pledged  to  a  new  idea— 
Wherever  you  have  met  them,  you  have  met  the  beginning  of  a 
revolution" —  Wendell  Phillips. 

We,  the  undersigned,  representatives  of  "the  changing  order"  in  con- 
ference assembled  at  Henning,  Minnesota,  this  4th  day  of  July,  1913, 
being  firmly  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the  time  is  now  ripe  for  a 
more  harmonious,  tranquil  and  symmetrical  basis  of  social  inter-relation- 
ships, do  hereby  issue  a  call  for  a  MASS  CONVENTION  to  assemble  at 
Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  at  noon  the  third  day  of  July,  1914,  for  the  purpose 
of  considering,  modifying,  amending  or  adopting  the  following  preamble 
and  resolutions: 

"WHEREAS,  the  progress  of  human  intelligence  from 
primitive  superstitions  toward  enlightenment  has  consisted 
always  of  a  growing  ability  to  discriminate  between  what  is 
real  and  what  is  false,  and 

"WHEREAS,  the  securing  to  every  human  being  an  un- 
disputed foothold  upon  the  earth  will  make  all  other  social 
problems  easier  of  solution,  and 

"WHEREAS,  the  common  illusion  that  land  can  be  owned 
has  already  persisted  too  long  to  the  detriment  of  every  in- 
dividual resident  upon  this  planet  and  to  the  entire  destruction 
of  satisfactory  social  relations, 

"BE  IT  RESOLVED  by  all  the  men  and  women  hereunto 
subscribing  that  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  January,  1920, 
we  will  no  longer  recognize  the  validity  of  any  land  title 
howsoever  granted  except  such  as  is  based  upon  the  occupancy 
and  use  of  land, 

"AND  FURTHERMORE,  we  pledge  ourselves  from  said 
date  to  stand  by  for  the  protection  of  the  tenure  of  all  who 
then  are  and  shall  thereafter  become  occupiers  and  users  of 
land,  against  invasion  of  any  and  every  kind  to  the  full 
extent  that  the  force  of  an  awakened  and  enlightened  public 
opinion  shall  be  available  and  effective." 

All  men  and  women  who  have  sufficiently  developed  the  sense  of  humor 
to  perceive  the  gigantic  fallacy  of  vested  rights  to  land  by  any  tenure 
save  that  of  occupancy  and  use  are  invited  to  attend  this  convention. 
Attendance  upon  and  participation  in  the  deliberations  of  the  conference 
does  not  necessarily  involve  the  severance  of  any  political,  religious  or 
other  form  of  allegiance. 

The  place  of  meeting  will  be  announced  later.  Further  information 
and  copies  of  this  proclamation  can  be  had  by  addressing 

A.  G.  WAGNER, 

708  Central  Ave.,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 


THIS  pamphlet  is  not  Copyrighted.  There 
is  not  an  original  idea  in  it;  all  has 
been  suggested,  if  not  actually  taken 
from  the  speech  and  writings  of  others.  The 
manner  and  form  of  presentation  only  is  that 
of  the  author.  The  notion  that  inventors  and 
authors  may  justly  claim  "Property  Rights  in 
Ideas,"  is  too  absurd  for  argument.  The 
granting  of  such  "rights"  is  arbitrary;  a  pre- 
rogative of  the  kingthing  in  political  govern- 
ment. 

AUSTIN  W.  WRIGHT, 

395  North  Perry  St., 

Pontiac,  Mich. 


AFTER   THOUGHT 


Force  of  circumstances  compels  a  couple  of  radicals  to  get 
out  two  conservative  weekly  newspapers,  The  New  Ulm  Review 
(English)  and  The  New  Ulm  Post  (German).  We  entered 
upon  this  work  absolutely  ignorant  of  every  detail  of  the 
newspaper  game  and  in  the  two  years  we've  been  at  it  we 
have  merely  gained  a  foot-hold. 

Our  plan  as  outlined  for  the  future  is  to  give  our  readers  as 
much  advanced  thought  as  they  are  able  to  accept.  We  do 
not  believe  one  can  tell  a  man  anything  he  does  not  already 
know  but  we  hope  to  help  clarify  the  ideas  now  formulating 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  beginning  to  think.  If  we 
succeed  in  this  effort  in  any  degree  it  will  be  enough. 

Ideas  and  contributions  from  radicals  will  be  warmly 
welcomed.  New  Ulm  Post— $2.00;  Albert  Steinhauser, 
Editor.  New  Ulm  Review— $1.50;  H.  Payne,  Editor. 

We  make  a  specialty  of  fine  job  printing  and  find  our 
greatest  pleasure  in  getting  out  radical  literature  similar 
to  this  pamphlet. 


NEW  ULM  PUBLISHING  CO,  New  Ulm,  Minn. 


\AJ'| 


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